A New Normal
by 4persephone
Summary: Co-Written with NeonDaisies. A story beginning immediately after the last Tony/Pepper scene in Ironman 2. TONS of spoilers as the two find their way to a 'new normal.'
1. Chapter 1

**A New Normal**

A Story Based on Marvel's Iron Man 2

Started: May 9th, 2010

Contrary to cliché – and Rhodey's obvious expectation – the two of them do not immediately leave the roof to find the nearest bed and go at it like a pair of sex starved springtime bunnies. (Though admittedly, Tony is probably calculating the likelihood of it, of course.) Instead they stand and watch the fires burn great swaths of the Expo grounds to smoldering metal framework, concrete and dust while sirens wail in the distance.

"I'm sorry," Pepper murmurs after a moment, so softly he almost doesn't hear the words.

"For what?" Tony glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

She clears her throat and gestures to the scene below them. "This. This place...what it stood for. I know it was important to you."

He raises a brow, "As opposed to it just being an unnecessary flight of fancy – my 'ego' again...?"

"That was before I..." She stops. That was before she'd known that he was dying.

So many things are different now. So much of what she'd thought she knew now requires a complete reinterpretation. 'This is about tomorrow.' Hadn't he said something to that effect? He'd said time was too short. He'd said that legacies were important. God, how could she have been so stupid?

Maybe not stupid. Oblivious though, certainly. He'd been dropping hints – unintentional or otherwise – for awhile now, and she'd been so lost in the details of being CEO and in being pissed that everyone was still riding her back for whatever it was that he had or hadn't done in the last week that she'd completely missed or simply discounted them. How different might things have gone if she'd at least attempted to listen? There could have been so much less misery between them.

"I was wrong," she says simply. "And I'm sorry. Again."

"You're never wrong," Tony says back in that mock serious voice that has always meant that he's processing data, or waiting for more data because what he has is incomplete, or that he's come to a decision and won't be swayed from it no matter what. "There's always ego involved in a legacy. Why else would we try to control how others are going to think about us when we're gone?"

"I'm capable of screwing up every bit as much and as often as you, Stark. Don't do either of us the disservice of pretending otherwise." She looks at him a moment, then back down at the fires, lifts her hands to rub her upper arms for a moment. "Look...it's getting pretty cold up here – can we put this topic on hold for the time being?"

"Yeah. Sure. Where do you want to go? Want to grab a bite to eat? I'm starving." His eyes focus on her face again instead of the wreckage below, though "focus" might be a generous term. He looks utterly bewildered.

"Are you alright?" He was flying and talking and he'd snatched her out of the way of certain death, so she'd assumed he was fine. But his armor is pock-marked and still smoking a little, and he'd been dying apparently...? So what does she know? "Tony, are you… Did you hit your head –?"

He laughs, a sound out of place for their surroundings. Then he tilts his head a little. "If I tell you how hard or often I've hit my head tonight, you're probably going to try and disregard everything that we've just decided isn't weird. And frankly, I like where this is going and I'm not inclined to let you weasel out –"

"I'm not inclined to weasel," she says softly, quickly, cutting him off. In the last few months they've tried so many things that haven't worked that she's willing to kiss and tell the chips to fall where they may and they'll figure this out if this is yet another avenue that doesn't work. She honestly can't imagine that them in a relationship is going to cause a bigger mess.

Her brow knits as she studies him closely, taking in both skin tone and posture. "Tony, are you sure you're alright? You're really pretty pale." Tony dodges and swats at her hand as she tries to feel his temperature. "I think we should probably find the nearest secure disassembly platform, get you out of the suit and let a medic check you over..."

Tony rubs the back of his neck with one gauntleted hand, a sure sign that he's going to say something that she's not going to like. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Sure, I don't have my meter with me but Jarvis is monitoring my vitals and will warn me about any serious issues. My body's just still adjusting to the Starkonium, I think, and toxicity shouldn't be much of an issue –"

"The _what_?" It's her turn to look absolutely bewildered. "Wait…meter? Toxicity –"

He colors. "Starkonium... Well that's what I'm calling it for lack of a better idea, till they come up with something official, I mean. Not that I really even know who 'they' are technically. Chemistry's not really my deal. I just needed something safer to power the arc than palladium…so with Dad's help I kinda invented a new element. They really should let me name it since I risked life, limb, and car collection to make it. Do you think the panel will take that into account when I petition to name it?"

She stares at him for a long time, both processing the sheer number of words, their somewhat random order, and their meaning. 'With his father's help?' "Is the house still in one piece?" she finally asks him after several moments of silence, disregarding the rest for the moment. In all fairness, it's a valid question, considering how things have been going lately.

"Mostly." He half shrugs, half winces. "The basement's almost as torn up as the upstairs is at the moment. It's all right though – I've been thinking about redecorating anyway."

She raises a brow. "Really."

"Oh yeah." Considering the damage that'd been inflicted by his aptly named birthday _bash_, severe structural work was going to have to be done, so why not redecorate at the same time? "I mean frankly, I need more work space, and I'm kind of bored with the color scheme. Time to change things up a bit."

She snorts in spite of herself. "You're not making the whole place up in gold and red and copycat art work. That red white and blue posterization theme is so overdone since the election."

"Nah, I was thinking just the master bedroom or bath...it won't be so obnoxious that way at least. As for the rest of the house…" His eyes turn strangely earnest, as they've been doing more and more often since he'd come back from his three month enforced "vacation" in the Middle East. It still takes her breath away.

"Are you going to coordinate the efforts?" he asks, striving for nonchalance and managing only to keep his anxiety out of his tone. "I know I've got great taste, but mostly because I hand over my credit cards to you." He wonders if they can find paint to match the exquisite blue of the dress she'd worn to the firefighter's benefit.

"…You want me to choose the decor for your house?" Pepper struggles to breathe as she thinks she understands what's being offered. But maybe it's just due to the wind changing direction and blowing smoke from the fires below up to their perch.

Still, suddenly Natalie's remark about honeymoons doesn't seem quite so snarky anymore.

Then her eyes blur a little, and she wobbles. Tony frowns stepping forward to brace her. "Okay, definitely time for us to take this conversation elsewhere. I'm not the only one who looks pale. The chemicals in the air from all the fires below may not be lethal, but they're probably not great for human lungs either."

'It's not the air, Stark, it's the subject.' But of course she doesn't tell him that, opting instead to just nod her head. "Yeah, sure. We can take the stairs to ground floor and then walk over to the main stage to see if the platform there is still working…" If it's not, the nearest platform is either at his penthouse or the local headquarters for Stark Industries.

"Still don't trust me to manage a controlled drop?" Tony teases as he reaches down and picks up his helmet, then he reaches for her after he gives the battered tech into her possession. "Trust me, this is less risky than asking me to climb down a dozen flights of stairs in this getup."

Before she can offer to meet him on the ground, he's got her in his arms and has stepped over the ledge of the roof as easily as if there was an escalator waiting to take them down. She squeaks a little and wraps one arm around his neck. "I...I don't mind flying if I get a little _warning_ first, Tony."

"Noted." He grins. "It's a beautiful night, even if it is cold. Want to just head straight for the penthouse in Manhattan and skip going pavement side entirely?"

"I..." She sighs then shakes her head. "I really ought to check in one more time with both security and the metro police." Pepper's not sure he'd actually make it that far without exhausting himself . She knows the suit drains him, both his physical energy and his RT piece. She'd rather have him out of it and call a taxi – which reminds her that she needs to check in on Happy and Natalie, because she doesn't know where they ended up, and how had Natalie known about the dying thing before she had anyway? – to take them to the apartment in upper Manhattan.

"All right. I'll set us down and Jarvis can help with disassembly. Meanwhile if you can find me some clothes that fit I'm pretty sure I can hotwire one of the cars in the showroom and drive us back to the penthouse."

She blinks. "You need clothing?"

He smirks a little. "Yup. Unless you want me running round shocking the first responders in nothing but my neoprene."

He speeds up towards the convention center so that the sound of wind in her ears keeps her from replying. But she still purses her lips and narrows her eyes at him as they soar over the heads of lots of uniforms – police, fire department, EMTs, emergency workers of all kinds. Ideally she'd liked him checked out by one of the many EMTs on the ground before she allows him near anything motorized. There's blood on his temple and his chin, and she's sure there's more elsewhere as well.

Of course she figures that her chances of getting him to agree to a stranger's examination are less than fifty percent.

They reach the main presentation stage to find it abandoned but for some firemen, rolling up deflated hosing. Charred and water-stained in places, the structure of the building itself seems to still be mostly intact. When his boots hit the ground she gently disengages from his arms. "You're not insured to drive any of the cars that are here at the moment," she informs him, and rolling her eyes at the face he makes in reply, she continues. "Let me call us a taxi instead – no one will care what you're wearing if we go straight home."

"Food first," is his only protest.

"I can call and have sandwiches delivered or something. But that's probably the best I can do. I'm pretty sure all the falafel stands are unmanned…something about rampaging, weaponized prototypes."

He nods at that. "Jarvis..."

"How can I assist you, Sir?"

"Find me munchies."

"Very well, sir. Of what type?"

"Anything but death by chlorophyll. And peel me out of this sardine can while you're at it."

"If you'll step onto the platform..."

Pepper takes over the acquisition of an evening meal as somehow Tony and Jarvis manage to pull up the assembly platform from underneath the Expo floor. She's surprised that there's even power to it anymore, but knowing Tony like she does, she'll lay even odds that there's a generator around here somewhere in the event that power was lost. Changed man or not, Tony would never allow a little thing like a city-wide blackout to get in the way of whatever production he was putting on.

It seems to take longer than normal, but by the time dinner has been ordered and the concierge at the penthouse complex has been alerted to their imminent arrival and could someone please run around the block to pick up the soup and sandwiches from the deli Tony liked, Tony is stepping gingerly from the platform. The whole assembly disappears back into the depths like a strange sea beast, leaving Tony and Pepper alone and without the armor between them.

In just the neoprene he can no longer hide either his gaunt fragility or general exhaustion. Pepper wants to step in and support him, wants to breathe a second wind into him with soft, exploratory kisses. However, if they start that up now it'll probably be hours before they can make themselves move again. Tony needs medical attention, and a decent meal, and quite frankly he needs a shower because despite the bite in the night air, he's still sweating like a pig.

The girl in her finds this mildly unattractive, despite the heroic nature of said perspiration.

Pepper reaches out and takes his hand in a grip that's just as uncompromising as the hug would have been, a temporary substitute that will have to do for the time being. "A car is on its way, dinner has been ordered, and someone is going to up to the penthouse to change the linens in the bedrooms."

"Sounds like a plan." He almost impulsively raises her hand to his lips, taking comfort from the smooth, intact stretch of skin. "So which of the gates do we have to walk to, to meet the ordered taxi?"

"The nearest. Though one of the EMTs was actually on the phone with me a minute ago checking in. He's offered to lend you a pair of scrubs and drive us to the gates if you'd prefer it."

"Yeah. That would be pretty good actually." Conserving energy has been the name of the game for a long time now. It seems practical to keep it up so that he can figure out what else Pepper didn't find weird. He was already weak as a kitten as it was.

As if sensing that thought, Pepper studies him, then frowns a little. "Do you need to sit awhile? You still look pretty wiped, Tony." Diminished somehow without his exoskeleton.

"Nah. I actually feel better right now than I have in weeks. I've just been pulling too many short nights lately...probably need to crash on the cab ride home and take a short nap."

"Uh-huh." She's only been not his assistant for a week. She's seen Tony go twice this long on "short nights" without looking this wiped out. However, he's not arguing about hitching a ride out to the main gate, so maybe if she doesn't raise a fuss she can also quietly persuade him into some patching up during their brief ambulance ride.

"God do I need a shower, my entire back is itchy." The way he reaches to scratch the edge of his shoulder blade is confirmation of his misery. His nose wrinkles as it nears his arm pit. "Okay eau de'Sweat is definitely not sexy."

"Not particularly, no," she agrees smoothly even as she tightens her grip even more around her hand. The strength that's returned to her helps her relax a little more. "We're going home. Just soldier on for thirty more minutes, Stark, then you can get cleaned up."

He nods and lets her lead him to the entrance, accepting the help of the man who meets them by the convention center doors silently, though Pepper notes he stubbornly refuses to let the medic do any more than take a set of basic vitals and patch up the abrasions on his face and scalp. He makes a face at the green scrubs and pushes them away with a shake of his head.

"No thanks. I have clean clothes no doubt waiting for me where we're going," he informs him. "And sea foam…not my color exactly."

The other man rolls his eyes, but doesn't press the issue further. Instead he roots around for a moment before pulling a bottle out of a bag in the back and handing it to Tony.

"Sir, your blood pressure is this side of swooning damsel and your capillary refill is sluggish at best... You're dehydrated. If you won't let me put in an IV, then at least drink this bottle of Gatorade before you go. It will help with the tiredness." Tony makes a face – Pepper knows he hates grape flavored anything – but he drinks the beverage obediently while the medic slips several tubes of super-grade antibiotic ointment into a discarded plastic bag and hands them to Pepper for reapplication after Tony cleans up and first time application once he's been divested of the neoprene.

After that, they just sit in silence shoulder to shoulder on the gurney. Pepper uses her BlackBerry to send several texts before allowing Tony to steal it briefly so that he can check in with Jarvis silently. "Home, James," Tony finally instructs minutes later, once their civilian vehicle arrives and he half climbs, half flops into the open back seat.

Pepper, now done with the necessary 'security measures' snorts at that and provides the woman with an actual address. Moments later they're pulling away from the curve and headed swiftly down the street.

This time he's the one to reach over and take her hand as she settles in, staring down at their entwined fingers for several minutes before he turns his gaze to the window. Pepper runs her thumb back and forth over his hand several times before the ringing of her phone distracts her. She shouldn't be surprised by the shrill tone – for all intents and purposes she is still the CEO of Stark Industries and there's just been a mechanical battle to the death involving Tony, a Lt. Colonel of the U.S. Air Force, an international felon, and a platoon of robotic goons.

Of course her phone is ringing. She's going to need to arrange for a press conference in the morning.

She sighs as she checks the ID; depending on who it is, she might just allow voicemail to cover her calls tonight. But it's Happy and he at least should know where they're going, and her erstwhile assistant can be put to work triaging the calls that will be coming in for next several hours. Despite her sudden exhaustion tonight, tomorrow is going to need her full attention.

"I'm going to take this," she murmurs to Tony, who's carefully not watching her out of the corner of his eye. "It's Happy."

Tony nods. "Tell him good job, all right? And to thank Natasha for me."

"Natasha?"

He waves a hand "Natalie. Natasha. Whatever. The plant SHIELD saw fit to sic on me..."

"Natalie works for SHIELD?" This new bit of information is enough to make her head spin a little, but at least it answers one question. She's learned over recent months not to be surprised at Nick Fury or his goons knowing anything.

"Not that I knew that when I hired her." He nods a little sheepishly. "But she's been a big help tonight. If it hadn't been for her, I'd still be trying to keep Rhodes from making toe jam out of me."

Her eyes roll at that, though she still feels more than a little irritation. "So while we're sharing pertinent facts, is there anything else you'd like to tell me that you've conveniently forgotten to mention...?"

He stares at her dumbly as the phone in her hand stops ringing and goes over to voicemail. Clearly he's trying to process, or maybe just get into order all the things she's been left out of the loop about. "About Natalie?" he finally queries cautiously.

"About her, you, your plans for Rhodey's suit or for the company in general..." It's a wide net to throw but she's not taking any chances – she can't afford not to. This week has been a painful lesson on giving Tony too long a leash.

He doesn't just tend to hang himself on it.

He winces at that, "Umm....Fury called you my best girl...? Other than that, not really for now… Though I may think of something to add by the time I wake up tomorrow morning. The last few days have been crazy." Though it occurs to him now that he's had a few doses of their sodium bicarbonate or whatever the hell it was, that Fury's tone hadn't been particularly respectful when he'd used the epithet. Like making Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries had been the result of a whim, and not a particularly smart one at that.

He doesn't think he'll share that fact with Pepper. In this area at least Fury pretty much knows shit about what's best.

She glowers a little, but nods and uses the speed dial to call up Happy again.

Tony half listens in, aware that Pepper's leaving huge chunks out of her explanation to Happy. Of course, he's not sure what should go into those chunks because saying, "By the way, Mr. Stark and I have started a relationship of some sort and we might be occupied tonight," wasn't her style and didn't have nearly enough innuendo included to be his.

Besides, Happy's a smart guy. He'll figure out the gist of things on his own, and probably sooner rather than later.

When the taxi pulls up in front of their building he sighs in relief and climbs out before the concierge can pull the cab door open. Pepper gets out moments later, striding forward toward the doors with her typical confidence.

He digs both her posture and her new heels, which for the record, do awesome things for her legs...

But then, that's hardly a newsflash. Just an observation worth pointing out. Especially now that imminent death doesn't seem to be his only future. God it's nice to have some hope for his libido again. Because honestly? The Sahara's had a shorter dry spell lately than he's been in.

Pepper holds the door for him instead of the other way around when they reach the entry, and he thinks he should be ashamed, and maybe he would be if he weren't so tired. He really hopes that food gets here soon; with luck he'll manage to pick up a second wind from the shower and extra calories and they can get back to the kissing part of their changed dynamic.

He's a little confused when the elevator doors close behind them, and Pepper abruptly starts chuckling. "What?" He tilts his head, trying to pinpoint the source of her apparent amusement.

She waves a hand. "Nothing...it's just that I just realized for the first time that I don't have to either ignore you or give you grief for staring at my ass..."

He raises a brow in a credible imitation of his usual lechery. "Really?" He twirls a single finger. "Well then throw me a bone and turn around for me. I want to make the most of your brief lapse in judgment." She sticks her tongue out in response. "Not helping," he moans pitifully.

Her smile widens, though her face in also getting red. "You were right," she mutters under her breath.

"About?"

"You know…about this whole thing..." She waves a hand between them. "It's definitely a little weird."

"Weird is still good, right?" he confirms because if he's gone through all of this, gotten a second chance at everything, and still doesn't get Pepper... Well, the heights he's capable of throwing himself from are exponentially greater than those available to the average joe.

"Weird is fine...better than fine. It's just gonna take awhile to adjust." Pepper sidles closer as the elevator comes to a halt and opens into the short hallway that leads to only two doors, bumping her shoulder gently with his. The one on the right side of the hall is currently for let he thinks. He's pretty sure that Pepper refused to look into buying it so that he could expand his suit across the entire floor. The one on the left leads to the penthouse he'd bought shortly after moving his company's HQ to the West Coast.

"I promise not to push in the meantime," he says, hoping he can actually keep that promise. Her skeptical expression indicates she finds that promise as shaky as he does. "Fine. I promise not to push much."

Her laughter rings through the entry. "Better." Then she leans forward impulsively to kiss him again.

'Yup,' He concludes a few happy second later as her hands come up to lock behind his head. 'We're definitely getting better at this with practice.' Albeit it'll be easier once she's out of her heels; he's practically on his tip toes at the moment.

Still, he thoroughly enjoys the chance to cup her ass until she breaks for air and pulls away with a little smirk of self satisfaction. "For the record…adjusting is gonna be a hell of a lot of fun."

"My sentiments exactly." He types in the pass code and waits for the door to swing open, before waggling his eyebrows. "So…do I carry you over the threshold?"

"Not tonight," she defers, though the answer still makes his heart pound a little. It's not a no. It's not her running away at the playful inference towards a much more developed relationship.

"Thank god. I'd hate to drop you on your ass." Not only is the scenario possible if he were to attempt it right now, but bruising the natural wonder that is her posterior would be a criminal act.

She regards him a moment, silently, and Tony's suddenly afraid that he's managed to mess up somehow. Which is sad, really. He's all for setting land speed records, but not ones for failure.

Finally she snickers softly leaning in to rest her forehead against his before speaking. "Is this how you always smooth talk your women?"

"God, no." Largely because Pepper reverts him to a bumbling idiot.

"Thank God," she murmurs, before kissing him hungrily.

Somehow they move into the penthouse without falling or slamming his aching body into any walls or sharp edges, something for which he's eternally grateful. Pepper kicks the door shut and then it's just them in the dark, again, just without the cold and the sirens and Rhodey telling them to get their own roof.

"I don't believe it," Tony murmurs when Pepper finally pulls away to catch her breath.

"Don't believe what?" Her eyes shine darkly in the light from his RT. In fact, the way the light slides over the familiar contours and turns them into something new and angular is something that makes him just as intrigued by the play of light as the Impressionist masters. Not to mention the thought of her being lit by him stirs something possessive and teasingly erotic in his chest.

"We have to look way hotter than two seals going after a grape. What kind of comparison is that, anyway? Seals don't eat grapes. Do you think we should get some photos taken – classy ones – just to prove him wrong?"

Pepper snorts. "Shower, Tony. We can talk about it once you clean up."

"Did you...uhm... want to join me?"

She raises a brow.

He shrugs. "Hey...guy here. I'm not expecting anything, but I at least have to ASK..."

She snorts. "Right now you look like someone could knock you over if they hit you with a TOWEL, Tony."

His scowl is that of a man who knows she's right but who still doesn't want to admit it.

"All right," he finally concedes. "Feel free to help yourself to the contents of my master closet while I'm gone. If you want to change into something less formal I mean."

"My next stop," she promises. And leaves him to strip of his flight suit.

00oo00oo00oo

Tony's penthouse closet is – unsurprisingly – full. Of every kind of clothing she can imagine. Suits certainly for when he has board meetings of course, but also workout and lounging clothing. There are warm sweatpants and faded t-shirts – one of each which she liberates and brings into the bedroom to change into. Warm socks from the dresser against the wall round out the makeshift ensemble quite nicely.

The bedroom is dimly lit, something she doesn't change as she turns down the bedcovers in preparation for later tonight. The expanse of windows stretching across the room show a sweeping vista of lights, stationary, blinking, and in motion. Pepper's always loved the view from this penthouse, especially at night. Right now she loves that the chaos of evening is swept away by comfortable déjà vu.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Ms Potts?"

The room is dark, her reflection in the clear glass barely a hindrance as she stares out at the city in motion. "How's Tony holding up at the moment?"

"Mr. Stark is quite enjoying his shower...did you need me to give him a message for you?"

"Oh no." She shakes her head. "Just let me know if he gets sick, or dizzy or anything… I'm a little worried about him passing out." Though that fear may be over-reaction. Unfortunately she has no idea how much strain almost dying of palladium toxicity has placed on his body. Mainly because he's taking such pains to hide all symptoms from her.

"You needn't worry about that, Ms Potts. I've been monitoring him constantly for nearly two weeks, and now that he has a new core for the arc, his blood screenings should begin improving steadily. He is tired yes, but continued daily chloraphyll intake should be all that's necessary to complete the detoxification procedure. Once his system is purified he should start to regain his appetite and muscle mass rapidly."

Pepper nods at that. "Jarvis, how much can you tell me about his health without betraying his confidence? I mean you never said a word about him being at risk, so I assume Tony ordered you to help hide all this from me?"

"Negative, Ms Potts. He simply said he thought it better he break the news to your himself, and asked I remain silent until he did so." The AI pauses, "To be honest I had begun to doubt the wisdom of that course. But I'd hoped perhaps you'd hear about it from Colonel Rhodes."

"Rhodey KNEW?" That brings her head up sharply, anger and hurt combining in her stomach to bring her temper once again to a boil. If Rhodes had known Tony was sick he should have said something, keeping confidences be damned.

"Negative, Ms Potts. At least Colonel Rhodes knew nothing in specific. He did witness Anthony's near collapse in the basement a week ago though, and I believe he was beginning to suspect."

"A WEEK ago?"

"Shortly after your flight returned from Monaco. That was just after Mr. Stark's health hit a crisis point, so to speak."

Her lips draw up tight. "Define crisis point."

"The chlorophyll shakes ceased to function as an effective counteragent to the palladium contamination. The signs of his illness were becoming increasingly difficult to hide."

"How long..." There's a lump the size of Texas in her throat. "How long would he have had if it weren't for the, um…the Starkonium, Jarvis?"

"A specific amount of time is undeterminable. It would have depended on his other obligations and how much stress he continued to put on his body."

"Give me an estimate."

"Anywhere from five to ten weeks."

Her eyes slide shut. She exhales raggedly.

"But...he's OKAY now right? The new arc reactor fixed things?"

"I'm FINE, Pepper. Going to be fine. Better than fine, actually."

Pepper's eyes dart to the side where Tony's reflection stands silhouetted by the light from the bathroom doorway. She turns so that she can see him more clearly, tired of the blurred view he's been giving her even though she's just discovered the extent of the degeneration. His face is shadowed; a towel's wrapped around his waist limp from use. Another hangs from his hand, which she supposes is better than having been dropped to muster on the bathroom floor. As he shifts on his feet the light from the bathroom seeps around him, allowing her to better see his face. He looks unsure, like he wants to offer comfort, but is also keenly aware of all the reasons she might turn it down.

And perhaps he's also unnerved by his half dressed state.

'Another thing I should have noticed,' Pepper admits as she steps forward automatically, modesty be damned. Tony – Mr. Casual Nudity himself has been dressing like a modest school girl for weeks.

"I will KILL YOU." Her arms wrap ever so carefully around his waist, trying to avoid the worst of the bruises that are throwing red and purple blooms across his skin. "If you ever hide something like that from me again."

His arms rise from his side – cautiously, as if he's afraid he might break her or something. "I'm sorry," he mutters. "I WANTED to tell you so many times....but finding the words..." He shrugs almost helplessly. "Didn't want to have to admit you didn't really get me back...that you were gonna lose me twice. Didn't want to have to watch you cry for your _boss_."

The emphasis on the word and the roles it forced them into hurts in a way it hadn't when he'd stepped off that cargo plane nine months ago. An errant thought passes through her head, wondering if these last nine months have been waiting to give birth to this moment. Like a chain being pulled, the next link that shudders into view is a partially burnt, partially jelled omelette; his desperation on the ride back from Monaco, his insistence that the two of them call it quits from the reality they were living in.

"Besides, you were so pissed –"

"Yes," she cuts him off. "I was furious."

He nods, not quite able to meet her gaze.

She reaches up and drags his face down until his eyes meet hers. "But not just because you were being an ass. Hell, you're always an ass, Stark. I've built a tolerance. I was mad because I didn't UNDERSTAND. Because I hate being stuck in the dark, helpless to do anything but wait and try and hold things together when I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle I need to do so. That's not FAIR, Stark. Not to you, or to me."

"I'm sorry," he repeats again, for lack of anything better to say. "I just..." His eyes widen as understanding bursts into his conscious mind. 'I didn't want _her_ to leave _me_.'

After all she'd threatened to leave at the though he might POSSIBLY be suicidal. Why would she have stayed with him if she'd known that he knew the energy expenditure of being Iron Man was killing him by increasing degrees.

"Tony. TONY." Pepper's voice cuts through his shocked revelation. He looks down to see her still standing there, hands around his waist, squeezing tightly. "Oh no you don't, don't you DARE spaz out on me."

He finds himself smilingly a little maniacally. "I think you're about a decade late on that order, Potts." Thankfully she takes it as his quirky sense of humor rather than letting the lame joke go flat.

"I repeat, ever hide something like that from me again, Stark, and I'll take out your liver with a rusty spoon."

"Duly noted, Ms. Potts." He wants badly to call _her_ boss, but now isn't the time for that.

She nods, and her hands caress his shoulders so lightly that he thinks he might be imagining it. "Go put on some boxers or something. I should take a look at these bruises before we eat."

He winces at the thought of the poking and prodding and the brooding that's going to lead to, but submits without complaint. Right now it's the quickest way to get actual food in his belly.

00oo00oo00


	2. Chapter 2

She feeds him well: soup, pasta salad and sandwiches from the local deli. Though exactly how Pepper had managed to remember he likes this local chain's Rueben sandwich when he refuses to eat them from anywhere else, amazes Tony a little bit. He's too tired to ask her about it though, eating and drinking obediently when she lays out the food and tells him to sit with her typical authority instead.

She also talks while they eat. Presumably about all the things that need to be accomplished tomorrow. Tony just watches her mouth move and wonders at how much he's missed her – no more precisely missed the comfortable familiarity of this. She's taken vacations that have lasted longer or taken her farther away than she's been for this past week, but the emotional distance has seemed all but completely unbridgeable until now. They're suddenly back on the same page again, though, and it's such a RELIEF.

A rude snort from Pepper pulls him away from his thoughts as he finishes the half of his sandwich he's working on. She's watching his face…"You're not hearing a word that I'm saying right now, are you?"

"Not really." He shrugs his shoulders. "Sorry. Right now I have a serious case of 'brain drain."

The edges of her lips curve up. "The word you're probably looking for Stark, is 'exhaustion.'"

"Not tired," he protests automatically. "Well okay maybe a little bit."

"Mmm-hmm... So are you actually gonna finish the other half of your sandwich or do you intend to just pick at it?"

"M'done for now."

"Then I suggest you go make your peace with the Sandman, Stark, before you topple ass over elbows out of your chair." She stacks his dishes up, then adds hers to the pile as well. He's all for not having to do the dishes, but he'd rather she didn't get distracted by cleaning up after him right this minute.

"Are you gonna join me...umm... I mean are you coming with?"

The question is automatic, and so are the nerves that follow immediately after. What she is and what he is and what they are together are all grey areas right now. But the same part of him that's defeated/selfless enough that he'd accepted her resignation with a question about work is also afraid she'll slip away if he doesn't keep her in arm's reach. "Just to cuddle I mean... I'm not trying to put the moves on you or anything, I promise–"

Once again Pepper devolves into giggles. He glares. "You do know you're going to give me a complex if you keep doing that, right?" She giggles harder. "That's it, I'm reverting if this is what I get for trying to be 'sensitive.'"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I'm not trying to make fun of you. Well not that much anyway. It's just...how many women get dragged into your bedroom with the disclaimer that you're NOT after sex?"

"Pepper, as a rule I'm usually not the one who does the dragging." He doesn't know why he needs to point out that he's always been like catnip to the opposite sex.

Okay. That's a lie. He does know. Not only does he want to hear her acknowledge that she's attracted to him, but he also wants her to realize just what it means for him to put the request into words. When asking is actually involved, he doesn't ask just anyone.

She gets that, right? She understands that she's not just one of his typical bedmates.

"Yes well, frankly I'm not entirely sure you don't have some kind of freak male pheromone imbalance..."

She's not playing along. Or she is, but not telling him what he wants to hear. "So what? You're telling me that your super power is immunity to my pheromones?"

She's been sitting on the floor in front of the living room's low coffee table where she can both see his face and avoid jostling him with her movements. Now Pepper shifts and walks over to him on her knees. There's a light in her eyes that he's never seen before, and it makes him swallow nervously even as his body responds. It's ready to buy whatever it is she's selling, especially as she rests her hands on his knees and leans in close.

"My super power, as you put it," she murmurs just a bare inch from his lips, "is not a lack of pheromone receptors, but this little thing called 'self-control.'"

"Oh god," he says without thinking as his brain short circuits. Her scent is everywhere; he can practically taste her already. The decision to lean forward and kiss her is less higher reasoning skills and more self-preservation instincts. He practically jumps forward, and -

Pepper dodges away with not the laugh he's heard from her for the last decade, but something huskier. Then she climbs to her feet as if they haven't just been having a "moment," and collects his dishes. And then she LEAVES. She takes the plates into the kitchen and leaves him breathless on the couch, ravished and nearly senseless.

If that was self-control, he wants more from wherever that came from. "Cazarolla...you are so going to kill me DEAD," he mutters to himself.

"So?" he demands when she comes back for their soup bowls. "Are you going to come put me to bed or do I have to do everything myself now?" Because for the record, he'd kill for a kiss good night.

Her eyes are heavy lidded and evil as she bends at the waist to collect his spoon. "Actually, I believe you hired Natalie to take care of the minutia of your life." Behind the teasing there's a thread of...some kind of emotion that's serious. Serious in the same way his offhand comment that she'd gotten both kids in the divorce had been serious behind the flippancy.

"Yeah, that actually... Wait. What? You're not ACTUALLY jealous, are you?" He pulls on her arm until she sits on the couch next to him.

"Jealous? Why should I be jealous that SHIELD called your type to expertly that you fell for the bait within thirty seconds of meeting her?"

That's not actually an answer. Until these last few months where he'd felt each day passing through his fingers, Tony hadn't realized just how often they answered each other's questions with deflection. And really, Pepper's a big girl and can clearly take care of herself, so most of the time it doesn't really bother him.

But he'd really like to SEE her, once in awhile.

"I'll take that as a yes, then. Why? Why are you jealous? Is it that she modeled in Tokyo, or -"

"I'm not jealous," Pepper says, a little louder and more emphatic this time. "I'm -" She cuts herself off, not just her words but her company too. Now they're just two people who happen to be in the same room.

'Distance. Distance is a coping mechanism. Distance provides safety. Distance lessens pain.' The calculations run through Tony's head at lightening speed, because he's kinda desperate not to screw this up here.

"You're hurt?" He hadn't meant to sound so...appalled.

She glares at him, more because he's forcing the issue than anything else. The man can build some of the most elaborate computer systems in the world on nothing more than a bag of skittles and the fumes from an empty bottle of scotch, but he needs a bulleted outline for simple human interaction.

"I shouldn't have been surprised," she informs him, wanting him to know that she's capable of viewing things rationally, no matter how she actually feels. "You hired ME after thirty seconds, after all. And without a review of my qualifications."

She looks away and Tony's caught by how cute the scowl on her face is until she mumbles, "Now I know how last year's Audi feels."

It's a stunning slap to the amygdala. Tony's jaw actually drops a little at the implication that Pepper is a possession, and one so little valued that she can be traded in for a newer model on a without so much as a second thought. "Pepper –"

His eyes narrow. No. She knows him better than that. She knows DAMN WELL after that whole thing with…Iron Monger…that he would never entrust anything as important as his company to ANYONE – no matter what their qualifications – on a whim. And she'd BETTER know damn well that her promotion had had nothing to do with being tired with "last year's model" or putting the old horse out to pasture, or whatever inane comparisons the free press has made.

"If I tell Jarvis to search for that phrase, which CNN commentator is he going to connect it to?" he demands.

Pepper reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It's doesn't matter."

He pulls her hand away so that she has to look at him. "Like HELL it doesn't. No one...you included, gets to talk about you that way."

His words soften her, so that it's no longer anger that holds the stiff set of her shoulders. Not that the resignation in her tone is much better. "What did you EXPECT, Tony...with hell descending the same week you promoted me literally out of the blue?"

"It wasn't random," he's quick to defend himself. "I researched, and checked with legal, and -"

"Yeah well, you didn't TELL anyone that, did you?" She snorts. "Hell, at least two members of the board haved joked I've got to have major blackmail or something."

"And the others?" he demands, because there's got to be another side to this. He hasn't always been surrounded by idiots and jackasses, has he?

...It might be best to strike that question.

Pepper shrugs. "Most people realize that I've spent the last 10 years unofficially dealing with the stuff that's currently my official job description. And they realize that coming to me in the first place cuts out you as the middle man with whom I used to need to confer before any decisions could be made." She almost sounds irritated by this recognition of her competence.

He sighs deeply. "Would it help if I admit I saw Natalie as a barely passable faux-imitation of you?" Her eyes are level and more than a little skeptical. "I mean, her hair's too red for one thing," he complains, absolutely serious. "But she's competent and self sufficient...if a touch too obedient. Plus she was a virtual stranger so..." He shrugs a little. "It was easier to hide certain things."

'Like you were dying?' Her tongue begs her to let the words fly. She wants to put him on the defensive like he's put her. But honestly, she's not up for that discussion right now. So giving him a straight answer to the original question seems like the best way to move on.

"Yes. My feelings were hurt because you replaced me very quickly." She tries to stand up. The table still needs to be cleared, and the dishes need to go into the dishwasher, and -

Tony keeps her from standing with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Pepper, I filled a vacant position. That's all."

"I realize that -"

"If you realized that, your feelings wouldn't have been hurt." He wraps both her hands in one of his. "I couldn't replace you. Not just because of your high standards, incredible class, and unparalleled competence...but...I couldn't let you go. That's one of the reasons I promoted you. I was operating under the - clearly faulty, in hindsight - theory that promoting you would keep you from quitting."

She blinks at that. "You...you thought that I was going to resign...but why?"

"My ears are still ringing because of how deeply the stress was getting to you. I've noticed several times when there's been a direct correlation between external pressure and the number of decibels your voice rises to. And frankly, I figured you were intelligent enough to eventually leave an intolerable work situation. Theoretically, promoting you was supposed to cut the stress in half. Was supposed to take Iron Man out of the picture." He knows she hates dealing with that part of his life, and that her initial dislike two years ago has grown closer to a true loathing by this point. "But you've always liked the business side of things, so I thought it'd make you happy. And give me more time to fool around in my shop at the same time, which makes me happy, but that's beside the point. I thought that if I could make you happy, then you wouldn't leave."

She blinks again. "Oh GOD," she mutters. "When exactly did our roles reverse, Stark? I was supposed to be taking care of YOU."

And that wasn't making her happy anymore. It had, once. When all she'd had to worry about was how to seat half a dozen generals at a dinner party and whether or not he was going to actually put in at appearance at the same shindig. But since Iron Man became part of his life? There's been a lot more moments where she's become brittle and tense. Logically, removing her amount of interaction with Iron Man increased long term interaction with Tony the man. And it was Tony the man who needed her.

"What can I say. I'm growing up." Tony shrugs and looks away.

She just stares at him for long moments, at utter loss for adequate words. 'Growing up. Yes. And slowly dying. While I typed up utterly pointless memos and watched too much TV news.' There'd been so much distraction in all their conversations lately...board members, SHIELD, Rhodey...No wonder his favorite word lately when ever they bumped into each other had been 'mute.'

"God," she mutters again. "It was SO the right time to stop 'working' for you."

"I'm glad you agree. Mainly because I hope that means I can talk you into un-resigning." Tony yawns and leans into Pepper's side. "Can we just sleep here tonight?"

"Sure. If you want to regret it in the morning." Pepper pushes gently and prods in a few uncomfortable places in order to get herself untangled from him. "I mean it, Tony. You're going to regret it if you don't sleep in a bed tonight."

"Then your second super power better be levitation, Pep, 'cause I don't think I can move."

She pokes and prods some more until he's swatting at her and actually reconsidering his invitation for a sleepover. "Fine. Fine. Clearly a week off the job is not enough to lay to rest your slave driver tendencies." He bats at her hands until he realizes she's giving him a hand up.

"I think the least you can do is bring me some Aleve and something alcoholic. A small amount of something alcoholic," he amends at the look she shoots him.

"Inxnay on the hiskey-way," she volleys back.

"Potts – "

"Toxins, liver damage, ibuprofen, and whisky? Really? This is your idea of a good plan." She looks dauntingly resolute. It's a mix of emotions he's only seen on her face in this past week.

Maybe that's why this works now? Because while he's always thought of them as equals now she actually thinks of them that way as well?

"I hurt," he says, hoping she understands the depth of the two words. That she can comprehend the bone-deep ache setting up shop in his arms, torso and legs. The way it seems to take twice as much effort as usual to keep his shoulders erect.

He's just looking for a little help getting to sleep. Everything else about this night he wants to remember with crystal clarity.

"And have you considered seeing a doctor for SAFE pain options, Tony?" she asks after a moment. "I mean, I'm pretty sure alcohol wouldn't work better than...say…MORPHINE."

"If I may interrupt," Jarvis sees fit to intone, "there are three prescribed doses of Vicodin in the master bathroom medicine cabinet remaining from Mr. Stark's last visit to oversee construction of the grounds at Flushing Meadows."

"Please, Pepper," Tony interjects quickly as she opens her mouth to object. "You already agreed that I didn't need to hit the ER tonight. That was your call. I just..." He reaches out and takes her hands in his, pulling her close to stand between his knees. "What's the point of going to bed if I'm not going to sleep? How long do you think I'll stand for that before I get up and find something else to occupy me? And I'm really not in the mood to listen to a lecture while I'm trying to work. It'll just frustrate both of us."

Her lips go thin and her eyes focus on their joined hands. He's absolutely right. The moment he gets out of bed without sleeping, she'll start fussing and hovering because a week apart isn't nearly long enough to break that habit. And yet the reason for the week apart has probably left them both in places where neither can cope with her gut reaction. Whether she stays CEO or goes back to being an executive assistant, they've changed themselves. And right now she can't even say that's a bad thing, not when Tony has always needed someone who can stand up to him.

"If I'd known about the palladium poisoning, I would have been restricting your access to pain killers and alcohol for months." Anger flows up almost out of nowhere. She has a feeling that these little eruptions are going to be a daily part of life until she's A) gotten over the fact that he'd hidden his condition from her for so long, or B) he finds the right way to apologize.

Frankly, she's pretty sure it's going to come down to an internal fight to move on. Tony's good at the big, sweeping gestures, but not so good on the apologies. Already his reassurances that his chest looks much better after just a couple of hours with the new reactor has done diddly-squat for her peace of mind.

Her eyes when they meet his are totally uncompromising. "I'm not an accessory, Tony. Not one to hang off your arm, not to the many petty ways you break the law, and not to the hastening of your death. No matter how far away that appears again," she says over his objections. "You don't get to turn me into that. At least when I almost blew you up, I had a choice about whether or not I was going to comply."

And just like that, they're not talking about treating PHYSICAL aches and pains anymore.

They stand there, on the cusp of a discussion neither of them is quite ready to handle, especially in light of the emotional rollercoaster they just got off of. Tony is willing to hash everything out, but only when he has a better chance at engineering a favorable outcome. And he can't do that when he's already half asleep.

"Pepper..." He breathes out her name like a promise. They'll do this. He won't run from the consequences. Pepper hears what he doesn't say and sighs deeply. Her shoulders relax and her fingers squeeze his reassuringly.

"Okay. Fine. If Jarvis doesn't think the Vicodin will cause further harm, then I'm willing to compromise."

"As a narcotic analgesic, Vicodin is far safer than either alcohol or the aforementioned morphine, Ms Potts. However, I can continue to monitor Mr. Stark's vitals and will rouse you should they drop below specified safety parameters."

"Yeah, I mean, yes, thank you, Jarvis." Pepper nods a little, but mostly to herself. "All right. Guess that settles where I'll be sleeping tonight." Not that she hadn't planned to cave to his request regardless of the issue. Tony wasn't the only one right now who'd take comfort in the act of just holding.

"Actually, Jarvis can wake you up from any room." Tony looks away as he shrugs his shoulders. His hands allow hers to slip away as he can pushes himself to his feet. Pepper doesn't move back like he'd thought she would. She stands her ground so that he comes directly into her personal space. "Potts?"

She presses a chaste kiss to his lips. "I want to spend the night with you," she whispers once she has his full attention. "I'd want to spend the night with you even if I didn't now have visions of you in full cardiac arrest while I slumber next to you."

"Actually, what Jarvis said was more indicative of –"

Another gentle kiss shuts him up.

He sighs into the gesture, allowing the tension to begin seeping out of his body as he finally, FINALLY starts to really relax. His hands settle around her hips as he tilts his head and ('Be good, Stark-junior.') resists the urge to add a bit more edge to the kiss. No point trying to write checks at the moment that they both know he can't cash.

When he pulls back it's to bury his nose in the curve of her neck, just for a minute. "So..." he murmurs. "Right or left side of the bed?"

"Go lay down," Pepper instructs with a very slight push. "I'm happy with either side of the bed just as long as you'll get some sleep. I'm going to clean up a little in here, and then I'll join you."

He nods. "Right for me then. As soon as I self-medicate." Tony's first step in that direction yields a definite wobble, and Pepper frowns.

"No, I'll get it. I want you in bed, Stark, before I'm tempted to chain you to the frame for a couple days."

"Please do," he says fervently.

Pepper rolls her eyes because she knows just what kind of shape he's in. "Bed. Now. After all, I'm still technically your boss."

"Trust me, I know. I can't wait to do my best work on my back."

"You're incorrigible."

"Sorry. Natural by-product of creating brand new elements and saving the world from the machinations of mad men and hyped-up used car salesmen. You're practically dating a god, Pepper." Sometimes he thinks she needs reminders of why he'd be the best guy for her.

She groans and points. "And yet no lightening or thunderbolts. For the last time, Tony: BED."

He goes, content that he's made his point. And then once he's in bed, it doesn't seem to matter anymore that every joint in his body hurts – and he includes each and every vertebra in that category – or that the sheets rub uncomfortably against his bruises. The moment he's horizontal, his eyes give in to the hundred pound weights pulling at them and he slips into a doze. He can still hear the soft sound of dishes rattling as Pepper cleans up and presumably loads the dishwasher, but the sound is distant, and oddly overlaid with the quiet sound of voices.

'Pepper and Jarvis,' Tony's exhausted mind tells itself. It's been a long day, full of shock and rejection and triumph and terror and more triumph… Right now he'd believe his mind if it told him that Pepper was out there chatting with his father.

Come to think of it, Pepper's got the kind of single-minded discipline and sheer guts that his old man would have appreciated. A good balance for his scapegrace progeny. Especially if the kids got her levelheaded temperament.

Tony laughs to himself in the dark. He might have reached godlike stature by creating a new element out of 40 year old building blocks, but his ego is astounding even for that.

Kids. Right.

"Tony?"

He opens his eyes for Pepper because he will ALWAYS open his eyes for Pepper. He will come back from the brink of death, and hangover, and public humiliation for Pepper.

"I've got that Vicodin if you want it," she whispers.

"Yeah," he whispers back, struggling with the sheets and his shoulders and his neck. He doesn't like the way he needs Pepper's help to ease into a semi-upright position, so he swallows the pills as quickly as possible so he can lay back down again. "Who were you talking to out there?"

"Happy and Natalie," she murmurs as she slips into the other side of the bed. "Seems she was dropping him off. I don't understand exactly what's going on, but it seems SHIELD is once again arranging for a press conference without our input, and I for one was not willing to argue the point."

He waves a hand, or at least a few of his fingers. "S'Okay. Probably wouldn't hurt to take up Fury's offer to let their docs see me again, anyway." Eyes heavy, he nonetheless all but purrs in contentment at the way she curves herself in close to his body. "God, can't remember the last time I got to share a bed."

"You mean the last time you wanted to share a bed. I can think a _few_ times you decided against it."

He lets out a silent laugh and turns his head towards her. "I built a cold fusion generator in the basement today." He waits for her answer impatiently. Just about anyone else would call BS on him because everyone knew cold fusion was a pipe dream. Millions of dollars in taxpayers' funds have gone into debunking the process. So there was no way in hell he'd managed it by himself in an afternoon.

Except he had and even if no one but Pepper ever knew, that would be enough. Still, he wonders if she'll believe him.

"To fix the arc reactor?" She takes it in stride. He shouldn't have expected any less.

It's hard just to nod in reply. "Yep."

"And it's secure for the time being as far as you know?"

"Hard to steal what no one knows is there." The world is starting to grey around the edges.

"Not hard to steal from a house that's missing a few walls."

"The shop's still secure...I learned at least that much from Dad. Besides, the world's top physicists could be looking directly at it and not recognize what it is. Seeing as how it's impossible."

"Yes, I understand. You're very impressive." Pepper shifts onto her side next to him, her legs bumping and sliding against his. "You said you father helped with the Starkonium?" Her hand finds his where it lies between them; her fingers trace down from his wrist and over the back of his hand, finally settling when her fingers and his lie meshed together.

They both have the thought that they're going to like this casual touching thing.

"He..." Tony yawns deeply, "theorized the stuff's existence and left the blueprint it in the model of the expo center. I just had to really LOOK and see that it was right there."

So the expo really had been the key. It had literally saved his life. "I wish I'd been able to know your dad," Pepper murmurs, brushing a kiss against his cheek.

"So do I," Tony admits, before finally falling asleep. There's a wistfulness in his voice that Pepper can't quite account for, but the day has been long and she's tired. Tomorrow will be even longer, just in terms of relational changes, not to mention whatever it is that SHIELD has planned for them.

000ooo000ooo000

Pepper wakes to the sound of trickling water. It's confusing at first...certainly not something she's used to in bed. But then she's also not used to these almost sinfully soft jersey sheets.

'Home? NOT home. New York Penthouse. Tony Stark's room. Tony Stark's sheets. Except...' Her hand meets cool pillow. No Tony Stark apparently.

'Hmm, new record,' her head observes. 'No sex, yet an empty bed.'

Pepper sighs and pushes herself upright. Her hair is a messy, tangled and matted mess around her face which she pushes back with both hands as she looks around the room. She ignores her head because it's prone to dry, acerbic wit. In all likelihood, Tony's caught up in post-mission euphoria, as she likes to call it. This happens at least half the time when he comes back from a trip abroad. He'll shower, eat, and catnap, fulfilling his basic hierarchy of needs, and then it's off to the drawing board as he teases out half-conceived ideas for improvements to the suit, or civilian application of current suit tech, or half a million other things.

A good part of her thinks he does this because he doesn't have anyone to spend his remaining adrenaline rush on. And even if he did, half the time he'd be too sore to do anything about it.

Pepper pushes herself out of bed mainly out of duty. She's tired and she's been shuttling between coasts and continents for the better part of a fortnight now; her internal clock is all shot to hell. However, if she doesn't at least check in on Tony and make sure he doesn't need another Vicodin or a heating pad or a ice pack... Well, she won't go back to sleep until she sees that he's alright.

She blinks when she steps into the dim lit living room and processes what she's actually seeing. "Tony, why are you writing on the walls?"

"No more paper with adequate space." He answers distractedly, never looking up from his scribbling.

"Space for what?" He's standing under his own power, even if he does have one hand braced against the wall. His words are unslurred, and what she can make out of his handwriting looks as legible as it always does.

Not that that's saying much.

Convinced that he's not suffering from concussion or having fine motor problems, Pepper collapses onto the couch and pulls a cashmere throw over her lap. On the table in front of her is a glass with a half inch of milk in the bottom and the crusts from the sandwich he hadn't finished earlier.

"A possible modification for the cold fusion process that could triple the output of the starkonium during...it's kinda hard to explain."

"What's the current output, so I at least have a frame of reference?" Pepper could have these conversations in her sleep, which was probably good. Sometimes Tony just needed someone to ask questions so he could talk.

"Umm...a whole freaking lot?"

She snorts. "Tony, your MIT professors are currently rolling in their graves..."

He sighs. "Like ten to fifteen times the palladium power cells with a fraction of the damage to the unit's power source."

She blinks. It's starting to dawn on her that Tony created a viable COLD FUSION process. In his basement. Within the last 48 houts. "Oh." 'Holy COW.' "Wow...ooooookay."

"What can I say, Potts...the engine's now got some serious juice under the hood."

She snorts as an errant thought passes through her head. Tony wants to be her lover. And Tony is battery powered. That officially makes Tony a battery operated boyfriend.

All things considered, it's one heck of a raise.

"It's not nice to laugh at a man's ego." Tony gives up focusing on his math for the time being. This is clearly going to be a problem, the way he can't do math and focus on Pepper at the same time. He's going to have to convince her to keep her job if he wants to get any work done.

"That's not what I was laughing at," Pepper murmurs as she reclines even farther into the couch. Which puts her in a very disadvantageous position.

"Yes it was. My second super power is knowing whenever someone's thinking in any matter about sex," he informs her frankly, putting his hands on his hips.

"You said ego, not a man's...pride." The problem with being on the East Coast is that the mornings come too damn early. See, Tony is just going to sleep in whenever he comes back to bed. She's the one who's going to have to get up.

He chuckles, coming over to brush a kiss over her left cheek. "What? There's a difference?"

"An ego can be punctured and a pride does the puncturing?" If she weren't so tired, she wouldn't be saying this kind of stuff. Especially not to Tony who normally doesn't need the encouragement.

He chuckles at the distinction she provides; his breath blows, hot and moist, against her neck.

"Mmmm... That's nice." She wraps her arms around his shoulders, but doesn't pull on him. He might be ambulatory, but who knows how his balance is? She doesn't really want to be crushed.

"Glad to hear it." Moments later his breath is replaced with his lips, as a warm hand settles to either side of her hips.

"See, this would have been so much easier if you'd just stayed in bed."

"Actually, I think I woke up every time you moved. Do all women kick in their sleep?" Tony doesn't really know what Pepper's complaining about; the couch is wide enough for two as long as those two don't mind touching. And clearly that's not an issue here. "Besides," he murmurs as his lips trail down to her collar bone slowly. "I seem to remember when we agreed to double bunk that I promised I'd 'behave.'"

"And that's what you call this?"

He raspberries her softly. "This is the couch. I promised no random groping in BED."

Pepper pushes at him as he tickles her neck. "Stop it. Or I will tell you what made me laugh." He makes a vaguely protesting sound at that, but then slowly pulls back, which leaves Pepper confused until she remembers what she'd said. "No. I meant the raspberries." She pulls him back to her neck as she shifts towards him more fully.

He groans in approval, tugging her carefully till they're chest to chest and groin to groin again. "Nice pajama's..." She'd removed all but her t-shirt and the boxers under her sweats before bed.

"Mmmm..." She turns her head a little so she can press kisses against his ear without dislodging him from her neck. The feather light touch pulls a full body tremor from him.

Looks like someone's lobes are REALLY sensitive.

She smirks. "Hmmm...interesting."

"No. Not interesting at all." Tony turns his head, removing the target from reach.

"Anthony Stark," Pepper admonishes is a mock-stern tone. "You turn your head back this way this instant." She raises a brow when he does so, pretty much automatically.

"Well..." she murmurs. "I wouldn't call this your best work, but then, you're not on your back yet." To tease, she adds a little puff to the end of her words that rushes right over his ear.

"Pepppppppppppper," he whines. Then, "Not sure I have reliable protection." Her reaction isn't particularly encouraging. Or attractive. A dropped jaw is not exactly _tres_ _chic_ on her. Of course, considering how hot his face feels, he's not doing much better in the shock and awe category. "Look it's been...awhile...okay? Besides, toxicity could be a factor until my system is...rebooted."

"Great. Mutant sperm," she mumbles under her breath. "And I thought having a battery operated boyfriend was bad enough."

Tony rears back, his mouth agape. "A WHAT?" he manages to ask before the laughter starts rolling through him.

"You heard me," she answers, smirking even as she blushes.

Still laughing, he bends his head and captures her lips for a...a happy kiss. He's never honestly been HAPPY to kiss someone before. Happy that it was one woman instead of one of hundreds.

Pepper responds for a perfect moment... Then she's pulling away and shushing him. "Shhh.... We're not the only ones here, you know." Of course, Happy's small room is at the end of another hallway off the foyer and if Natasha is here then she's in Pepper's room, as arranged, and those walls were sound proofed. It'd been Pepper's one condition for not joining Happy in a smaller room at a greater distance.

Tony nods, a little reluctantly. "Probably best not to traumatize the staff anyway. ESPECIALLY Happy..." He grins a little. "He's got quite a little crush building up for Romanoff, by the way."

"Oh, as if I haven't see you looking at her."

"Eh," Tony says with a shrug. "You can't really blame me for that, can you, Potts? Besides, her legs are a little stubby for my tastes."

"To quote my grandmother: 'You can look all you want, but any part of you touches any art of her and I'm cutting it off,' Tony."

"Your granny also fell for a Tony?" he teases, deliberately misunderstanding her. "I guess I haven't needed to worry these last couple of years, not if you're genetically predetermined and all..."

She rolls here eyes. "You are still incorrigible. It's two am and first call is at seven. Come back to bed. You may not be death warmed over anymore but you still need you beauty sleep."

"But these schematics -"

"Will keep your entertained tomorrow while you complete your mandatory 24 hours bed rest."

"Bed rest, sure," Tony grouches. "Never seen the sense in that word. Beds are for much better things than rest."

She considers, then her lips curve up. "Sleep during the day and I might consider bending the rules a little bit, when I get back from the office and pharmacy tomorrow evening."

"Which rules? The ones involving resting?" The involvement of a pharmacy in her plans is intriguing.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Pepper sighs and kisses him one last time. "Come back to bed. I'll try not to kick."

He nods a little. "I suppose I'd be relatively safe if we slept with my front spooned up to your back."

She snorts. "Tony Stark, always the man with the plan."

"In the words of MY grandmother, 'Damn right.'"


	3. Chapter 3

The vista upon waking, is far more pleasant than the view the windows provide. Of course, since he opens his eyes to Pepper, he feels like he can take just about anything else in stride.

She s sitting in a chair across the room, laptop open in front of her and lips moving too quickly for him to make out what she s saying. He s pretty sure the soft flow of her voice isn t what had roused him; it s far too comforting he decides as he closes his eyes again and allows her voice to wash over him.

For the next hour or so he rises and falls out of a light doze, always comforted by the fact that Pepper is nearby even if she s not focused on him. At least, not directly focused on his bodily person. He d lay even odds that it s SI business that has her occupied, and since it s his company, that s essentially the same as having her attention.

Of course, all teasing on his part aside, she had resigned the night before. And he can t accept. Not a full resignation as she'd given it. Not if that decision will remove her from his sphere of of

Being, his mind provides helpfully. Your sphere of being.

He waits until Pepper ends her current call. She actually takes out her BlueTooth and rubs her ear as she sighs.

Hey there, gorgeous.

Pepper glances over and though she tries to look stern, he can see her lips twitch like she s trying to hide a smile.

Mr. Stark, if you would please refrain from encumbering me with any further nicknames, I would appreciate it. She stands up and walks over to the side of the bed, brushing his hair away from his forehead as she takes a seat. "So...how you feeling?"

Honestly? I m blaming all of this on you. If your womanly wiles hadn t lured me into bed, I wouldn t have had the time to stiffen up like this. His lopsided grin takes away the sting of his words, but there s a hoarseness to his tone that underlines the sincerity of the complaint.

"Womanly wiles?" She snorts, frowning a little as she leans forward to rest a cool palm against his forehead.

"Do you want me to turn my head and cough, too?" He brushes her hand aside.

"You're feverish," she says. "And heavy metal toxicity can leave you especially vulnerable to infection."

"And yet you wouldn't put on a mask for me when you had the sniffles." Honestly, the Florence Nightingale routine would have had a lot more meaning if it had occurred at least 24 hours previous. "Look, just bring me some Aleve and Jarvis can track down the nearest place that sells chlorophyll for human consumption. Once I'm on my feet some of the stiffness will disappear."

Her frown deepens. "I thought we agreed last night you'd stay in bed for pretty much all of today."

"I assumed you'd make exception for the Jacuzzi, Potts - it'll loosen me up and help prevent the scuzzies..." He waggles his eyebrows. "And if you're worried about me drowning...well you could always take a break and join me."

Pepper sighs. It's sigh #27, the one that means he's won this argument but she's going to remember that he had. A little huff that makes her chest bounce.

He likes sigh #27.

"I wish I could stay -"

"Then do it, Pepper. You re the CEO, remember? And entitled to the occasional break. We'll pretend we're in our own private Cipriani club." Why does he always feel like he's trying to talk her into spending time with him? "Health shakes and saunas all the way."

Her lips quirk again. "I wish I could stay," she repeats. "But I have to go into the office for a few hours. I've already set Natalie on bringing surveyors out to the Malibu house so that we can get estimate on how bad the structural damage is and how much it's going to cost to repair. This is assuming of course that you want to stick with the original blueprints." Pepper stands and walks back across the room to the table where she'd left her laptop. "I found this for you, between the cushions of the couch in your study." She hands him a clipboard sized piece of Plexiglas, a larger example of the same tech that his smart phone is based on.

"Rather than writing on walls," she advises him, "why don't you use this. It's certainly easier to transport."

He takes it, nodding. Chews on his lip a little. "Just...hold off...on the mansion completely, okay? I mean, it's not like I can't stay on the couch for a few weeks until I can think things over."

"Or, you could stay in the east wing which escaped most of the structural damage." Pepper sends a quick text to Natalie to let her know to only authorize the estimates. "However, that's hardly a concern for the moment." She closes her phone with a snap and turns her full attention back to Tony. "I really do have to go, Tony. I wanted to at least be here when you woke up before I get sucked into things at the office."

"You sure you don't want me to tag along?" He swings his legs over the edge of the bed in preparation to stand. "I mean I could just...hang out on the couch in your office or something."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Pepper runs her fingers through his hair fondly, and there's a gentle look on her face. "I've been working from the table over there since about seven this morning. Our official SI statements have been issued to us by SHIELD, along with your official statement about yesterday. Stock is up due to the major news outlets reporting that you were working in conjunction with the U.S. military to stop a terrorist attack on the city. Someone however, has to meet with the mayor and the governor about any distances SI is willing to go to in order to cover the cost of repairs. Which we will haggle over before agreeing that we will pay for no more than 40% of rebuilding costs. In the meantime, we will be looking for a suitable replacement site for the Expo's larger events." Pepper's smile is a little wistful. "I've got everything covered, Mr. Stark. All you have to do is sit back and recover."

"Why are we paying for repairs?" Tony asks, trying not to feel left out. He gave Pepper the job to take care of this stuff, after all.

"Good will and good press. Thankfully no irreplaceable national landmarks were damaged. Besides...we were smart enough to make sure last year that terrorist attack was added to coverable damage on our insurance."

"I saved their overconfident butts, Tony grumbles before doing some lightning calculations in his head. I suggest you offer them twenty at max. That way you look generous and they think they've won when you agree to thirty." He tilts his head. "By the way, just to give you warning: expect a pissed of call today or tomorrow from Rhodey."

"Call him to make sure he's not in it before you shut it down?" Pepper's eyes twinkle. "That is what you're going to do, isn't it? Put a high-tech 'Club' on the suit?"

"Already did so actually. Had Jarvis make sure it was unoccupied before turning it into a very expensive tin can." He shrugs, "Given the Armed Forces inability to cope with it safely so far, it won't be flying for anyone until Rhodey and I have a little chat. I won't trust the thing to the military but I might lease it solely to him."

"Well, play nice this time." Pepper stands one last time, retrieving a navy blue blazer from across the room. For the first time Tony notices that Pepper is pretty casually dressed for someone going into the office. Jeans, white t-shirt. Heels, naturally but no jewelry other than the diamond studs he rarely sees her without.

"No power suit?"

"It's Saturday, I was up all night with you, and based on some of the precedents set by my predecessor, I'm overdressed." Pepper stops by the side of the bed for a quick kiss. "Stay out of too much trouble? Can I get you anything while I'm out?"

"Thai food for dinner. Command and Conquer 4. And a pony."

"You sure your stomach is up for Thai?" Pepper looks concerned.

"How much time did you spend on WebMD, Potts?"

"...an hour or so...?" she admits reluctantly.

"Then you'll know my taste buds are affected as well. It's got to be spicy to TASTE like anything right now."

Tony s satisfied as all of his previous requests finally registered. "Did you just say a pony?"

"Just checking to see if you're actually listening to me yet." Tony pulls Pepper down for a more thorough goodbye kiss. One that leaves her eyes a little foggy when they finally part.

"I...um...no...you are disallowed any pets," she murmurs back. "The world does not need an iron goldfish, dog or cat."

"How about an Iron Llama?"

No.

Tony just barely keeps himself from saying, "I want one."

"Do you want Thai from that place in Brooklyn, or will any place do?" Tony has always had his favorites and tends not to deviate from them.

"Brooklyn definitely. The bakery next door sells those obscene mini cream puffs that you like to eat for dessert." Pepper blissed out on processed sugar was a little easier to remember than strawberries. Not to mention it was sexy as hell, and he rarely forgot anything that was sexy as hell.

"As you wish, Buttercup." Pepper chucks him under the chin and leaves. Suddenly the room is just a room with a great view, with nothing else to hold him there.

Natalie comes in a few minutes later with two Aleve, a green protein shake ("It's what's available at the moment, Mr. Stark ), and a digital camera with hi-res photos of the living room walls on the memory chip.

Tony takes the meds, downloads the photos to his techboard - 'Eat your heart out, Steve Jobs.' - and takes the board and the shake into the bathroom so he can adjourn to the Jacuzzi. If he can soak some of the aches out of his body, then maybe he can walk without looking like a old man, and then Pepper won't give him a hard time.

And maybe tomorrow she'll let him go out with her.

000ooo000ooo000

By one-thirty after just two hours of behaving himself Tony s ready to climb the walls.

Can t is a word that s never been in his vocabulary. Won t that one he s intimately familiar with. Won t implies a decision, one made by him. Can t is a limitation set by external forces. Even the limitations forced on him by Pepper start to rub eventually.

Rationally, he knows the walls aren t closing in on him. If he wants to be fair, then he can step back from his mounting restlessness and say that he s been living under a death sentence for the last however many months. That the only thing standing between him an oblivion has been his mind and it s ability to figure a way out of this hellhole of his own making. That he d leapt before he looked and it had resulted in unforeseen consequences.

Rationally, he knows he s done this whole live by the sword/die by the sword - or shield, or prosthesis - routine before. And look at how that had turned out.

However, the fact that he has done all this before leaves him feeling as if the last two years haven t happened and he s that same man who d stepped off a cargo plane to Californian sunshine and Pepper s bright smile. The emotional d j vu leaves him feeling like he doesn t know himself any more, which is unsettling enough in itself. He can stand it, though. He can tell himself that it s a passing feeling and in a few days or a few weeks at most, he ll be back to his usual, confident, energetic self.

It s the sensation of being trapped trapped in a cave, trapped in his suit, trapped inside his own dying flesh that makes it really hard not to bolt. The only thing that keeps him inside the penthouse is a feeling that Pepper needs him to behave responsibly right now. And not for his own sake, but for hers. She needed to not worry about him for a few hours.

Bolting without any purpose or destination would be irresponsible and would, therefore, worry Pepper.

So for the fifth time in the last half hour, Tony turns the TV on and flips through the thousand or so stations in search of something to keep him occupied until she got back.

News, news, news, CSPAN, news

Jarvis, find out who called Pepper last year s model. If he can't build anything right now, he can at least brush up on the lost art of 'vengeance.'

"Please specify search parameters," Jarvis requests. As Tony's parameters include seven 24-hour news channels with a week's worth of backlog, that's over a thousand hours of programming. Enough to keep Jarvis occupied for a few hours at least.

He sighs and tosses the TV remote across the room. The same can t be said of him. There s jack-squat on right now, unless he wants to watch buddy cop marathons, which he doesn t because Rhodey had used up Tony s monthly quota of patience for one liners the night before.

Damnit, he mutters to himself as he shoves his body off the couch and goes to look out the windows. He s in New York City, whose reputation is for never sleeping, and he might as well be in a coma for all he s allowed to do.

He s about to say screw it and he ll make it up to Potts later, when Natalisha as he s decided to call her and Happy come into the room. They look like they re ready to flank him and he has to wonder why everyone is suddenly so good at reading his mind and why couldn t they have figured this out earlier and saved him the death-defying stupidities of the last week.

Let s face it. He s a man who loves nothing better than putting on a good show, and dying slowly and painfully in his own bed had for him ranked only slightly above dying in obscurity. The best way to go was after sex with a beautiful woman though it probably wouldn t be all that great for the woman involved, and Pepper hadn t exactly been inclined to grant him a last request anyway. Pepper, who was always watching him even if they weren t speaking. Pepper, the reason those second-best, blaze of glory plans had never quite worked out because he had never worked out how to get the glory without hurting the girl. Who d be watching.

And, if the welcoming committee at the door was indication, was still watching.

I don t need a babysitter.

Yes, Mr. Stark. Director Fury said to inform you that cleanup efforts are under way at the Flushing Meadows site. He thought you might want to know that the Hammer drones are being stored at a separate facility from the other wreckage.

Tony's forehead wrinkles and he frowns a little. "And how did he manage that. I mean aren't they technically the property of the US Military? The joint chiefs should be screaming."

The two trade looks, Natashalie shrugs. "The drones are considered too big a flop to be anything but an embarrassment at present. Granted the only thing wrong with them before they were destroyed was a software hack...but at this point no one knows that. Even if they did...they're short a man capable of fixing them."

Happy's lips curve up a little at the corners. "Speaking of which, Sir, you're invited to dinner with the Director of Homeland security."

Tony laughs, though it hurts his bruised ribs. "What happened to Hammer? He couldn't have possibly died of embarrassment, not after that missile defense fiasco back in 2000."

"Ms. Potts had him arrested," Natashalie reports. "For aiding and abetting an international fugitive. His lawyers are still trying to get him out on bail."

His chuckles increase. "Which means the best chance they have of getting those drones fixed is me." The irony of being the 'man of the hour' in this particular case very much tickles his fancy. Granted it's going to also be a royal pain in the ass. He's not all that good at saying "No" repeatedly without losing his patience.

'They've all tried threats to no avail...the only option left's to court me.'

"Yes, well, before you start making yourself presentable for your date, Directory Fury would like any information you have on what a damaged RT unit might look like." Natalie - really, the permutations of Natalie and Natasha are starting to give him a headache - gives him a much more straightforward stare than usual.

"He wants me to explain...?" A light bulb goes on over Tony's head. "Oh. Why didn't you say so?" Tony brushes past them both and heads for his bedroom for a jacket and a pair of shoes. "Hey, Rushmanoff, let Pepper know where we're headed. She'll be pissed if no one's here when she gets back."

Happy frowns. "Sir, Ms. Potts told me earlier you were on ordered bed rest until later this evening."

Tony waves a hand. "This is different...Fury saved my bacon the other day. The least I can do is answer his questions personally. How hard is it to sit in a chair and trade technobable, honestly?"

Happy knows the talking isn't going to last long before the former boss is clambering around and possibly over bits and pieces of drones to scavenge whatever he doesn't want someone outside of SI or SHIELD to see. However, Happy's also a guy and he gets it. Sitting around has been getting on his nerves too.

"Tell me this place is inside and has AC," he asks Natalie without looking at her. He still doesn't know what to think about the woman, but Tony both seems to have some idea of what's going on and trusts her enough to take care of it.

"We even have bottled water," Natalie says, just as coolly.

"Great...I figure...ten minutes to gather my tools and then we can leave?" Tony reappears with a blazer that probably costs more than the average person makes in a month and a ratty pair of tennis shoes.

Natasha clears her throat in a clearly non-vocal 'I do not approve.' But she doesn t argue the subject. For which Tony is grateful, honestly.

Pepper he can take it from; her evil twin not so much.

Pepper. She's probably going to have seven kinds of fits over this. "Yo, Natalie. Don't tell Ms. Potts we're going until we get there." It's dishonest, but Tony just doesn't have the patience or the strength to explain himself in detail to Pepper right now. He'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission in this case.

The woman's lips purse. "Very well," she says simply.

He nods then turns and heads for tool closet/pantry. Pepper has, on more than one occasion, tried to get him to move the assorted tools into his bedroom. He always refuses, saying he'd rather throw out food than clothes if he forgets to cap the WD-40. Besides, nothing in here is really going to be ruined when he upends one of the smaller tool boxes and starts tossing in what he thinks he might need. Those explosions the night before had looked pretty damn effective, so he's honestly going to be surprised if anything has survived, but arc reactor technology is still exclusive to his company. No way is anyone getting their hands on damaged or even mostly destroyed components.

"Okay, let's roll." He wonders briefly why Happy is here instead of driving Pepper, but figures she entrusted the bodyguard with bodily keeping him in the penthouse while she flitted about town. Too bad she hasn't been the boss longer; as it is, Happy just walks slow.

"Do you want to stop anywhere for food on the way, Sir? You should eat a decent meal or two while you're over there at least."

"Uhh..." What? Hadn t he eaten only a couple of hours ago? "Pepper's bringing back Thai. I'd hate to ruin my appetite." What there is of it. "Coffee though. Let's stop and get some coffee."

"How about a smoothie. I promised Ms Potts I'd at least attempt to keep you away from alcohol and caffeine."

"Attempt being the operative word," Tony says. "Who's the boss around here? Wait, don't answer that." No one else knew about the delicate negotiating that was going to have to take place to keep Pepper as the boss.

"Just trying to make her stress a little less, Sir," Happy informs him Sahara dryly. Which meant Happy agreed with the assessment, but can t say that because they re guys. And guys let each other do stupid macho things without advising caution.

"Well, what Pepper doesn't know won't hurt her," Tony mutters, absolutely aware that it's a crappy excuse. Coffee? She's going to tell him he can't have coffee now? Like he hasn't been fine drinking coffee before today?

"Fine. Find me a Jamba Juice."

"Right away, Sir." Happy waits till he climbs in the town car s rear seat, than slams the door shut behind him.

000ooo000ooo000

Pepper s in the middle of meeting with the mayor of New York City, the governor of New York state, and all the Stark Industries Board members who could make it, discussing reparations and causality and if perhaps a fundraiser to repair the Expo center could be fit into the coming events at the Expo itself when her cell phone lights up like a mini-reactor and starts vibrating. As the meeting has primarily dissolved into people repeating what they d said an hour ago, she wakes the screen up and reads the text waiting for her. She d expected Tony to start texting her when he got bored, but he s lasted far longer than she would have bet money on.

The message isn t from Tony though. It s from Natalie, and it s enough to have her pushing away from the table. She excuses herself with a mutter and a certain amount of strained patience that has most people assuming that Stark Industries majority stock holder has done something new as well as leaving a few people wondering why the CEO is still answering to what amounts to one of her employees, despite the long history between them.

Pepper has to wait until she s out of the elevator and on the ground floor before she can call Natalie back.

"What do you mean he insisted on a field trip," is her first demand when the other woman answers her phone.

"Mr. Stark saw fit to go personally answer some questions regarding the Hammertech drones that were recovered by Colonel Fury. I believe his exact words on the matter were, and I quote, I owe him.

Pepper raises a brow at that. 'Since when does Tony owe anyone?'

In the distance she can hear the drone of Tony's voice as he talks to someone. The voice becomes louder and more distinct. "Is that Pepper? Ask her to stop and get me another Jamba Juice."

"Tell Mr. Stark that running his errands isn't in my job description anymore." Pepper hangs up, her mood wildly alternating between relief and something like panic as she flags down a taxi. He'd sounded good. Engaged, alert, aware...but then, she'd say that about his behavior for most of the last few months, which is the reason her stomach is unsettled.

Damn it. He really is going to be the death of her. Or at least he will if she can't find some sort of happy medium between blissed out and stressed out.

A taxi stops. She gets in. Instructs the driver to first go to the nearest Jamba Juice before instructing him to Fort Hamilton. She s dropped off at the main entrance where there's a man in a black suit waiting for her in a golf cart. The look of calm expectation on his face does a lot to remind her of Agent Coulson.

He looks at the Jamba Juice. Pepper doesn't say anything except how the breeze is pretty pleasant since the day has heated up. Then she sips at the (uck!) raspberry with wheatgrass smoothie.

If she chooses to run errands for Tony then it s nobody s business but her own, damnit.

Five minutes later they're pulling up in front of a nondescript warehouse. "Sorry, Ms. Potts." Happy meets her at the door. "I tried to change his mind but he was practically climbing the walls with inactivity."

Pepper's nod is wry. "I should have given him orders to write out the numbers for the RT and sketch out his latest baby's schematics for me..." Tony is, after all, unchangeably Tony. Absent alcohol and drugs, he's really no better than she is at coping with inactivity. Or so she'd told herself, over and over on the cab ride first to Jamba Juice, and then to this base, as a means to cool her simmering temper and calm her head.

The attempt lasts as long as it takes her to actually physically see Tony.

He's wearing the good jeans. Which had always clung so nicely to his ass. Which had for the most part escaped the grease trap that was the rest of his 'shop clothes' for lack of an actual shop to muck them up in. She'd loved that particular set of jeans.

Which are now covered in grease stains and scorch marks and God knew what else.

Damn man. And damn Hammertech. She was so sending Justin Hammer a fruit basket in jail or something.

He's perched up on a mountain of blackened metal that probably is destined for a scrap yard somewhere - if it's good for even that now - like he's some kind of two-legged mountain goat or German shepherd sans-lederhosen. And he's not. This morning he could barely get upright without help, and now these idiots are pressing him too hard to explain what they can't, and her idiot is grinning happily. Though, that's probably because he hasn't noticed the determined way she's stalking towards him.

Somehow she holds on to enough patience to keep from interrupting as he finishes a highly technical discussion with someone in coveralls.

"Tony." The strained, on the border of shrill tone in her voice is far too familiar after the last few months. Result of feeling one too many times that he's listening but not hearing anything she's saying. "What are you doing -"

"Digging out pirated RT bits...can't have the army trying to reverse engineer from it." He gestures to the drink in her hands. "Is that for you or for me?"

"What do you think?" she demands, more along the lines of 'What are you thinking.'

"I think you're pissed and there's no point in defending myself until you're ready to listen." Tony wipes his arm across his forehead. If he'd been attempting to keep grease and who knows what else off his face, he fails. "I'm honestly not in the mood for a dressing down from anyone who isn't my mother. Now. Is that for me or is it one of those disgusting soy milk deals that you like?"

She shoves the glass in his hand. "Wheatgrass, apple juice, blueberry and raspberry."

He takes a sip then nods his head, as if in approval. "Thanks. It was another one of these, soda or their godawful coffee."

She opens her mouth because whether he's in the mood for it or not, this doesn't look anything like taking it easy to her. Tony though, he just grabs her hand and hauls her towards the back of the room where there's a couple of card tables, some folding chairs, and three vending machines.

"Look, I'm taking a break." He sits and pulls her into a chair next to him. "You can skip the lecture on knowing my limits." He mutters under his breath about having to break her into a new habit of asking how his day's been before she starts haranguing him. There's enough bitterness is the comment that Pepper actually blinks.

'Haranguing?' Is that really how he's been reading it?

Okay maybe lately she has tended...a bit...toward the negative recently.

She sighs and fights the urge to rub her eyes, because she doesn't really need to smear her mascara around. "A break is not the same thing as bed rest. Not even remotely."

"I'm fine. Been sitting talking except the last half an hour or so. Honestly."

She studies him a minute. He sounds like he's telling the truth, but finding out that he's been lying - if at least lies of omission - to her for the last who knows how long has left her sense of trust in him sorely battered. Just knowing that is enough to leave her feeling lost. She d thought she d known him, but it turns out she s been in the dark for weeks. It s going to take time for to adjust to the like again.

And in the meantime, how the hell is best to get her point across?

Finally, softly, "What would you want me to be doing while recovering from heavy metal poisoning, Tony?" Because even if she can t count on him to tell her the truth, she s pretty sure she can count on him to look after her best interests.

In Stark-world, that means a confiscation of her phone and schedule book at the very least.

Silence reigns as he studies the tabletop. Then, "You don't fight fair." Equally softly.

A smile curls one side of her mouth as she squeezes his hand a moment. "Yeah? Can't imagine who taught me."

"I was going nuts, Potts...the men in white coats were gonna have to come and cart me off."

"The only men in white coats you deal with are lab techs." Pepper sighs again and resists the urge to lean her head against his shoulder. "I wish someone would come cart you off. Then I might get some honest answers about your general state of health."

"Would it help if I asked Fury to lend one of his goon MDs to look me over? Because I will."

Pepper raises a brow. "You're offering to see a doctor voluntarily?"

He shrugs. Yeah, he gets it. There's a huge breach of trust running right down the middle of their relationship right now, and since Pepper just found out about it, she's pissed. Maybe not even with him, totally, just reactionary pissed. If someone said "boo" to her right now, that would be her first reaction.

So she's pissed, and they have a breach of trust, and he's not dying anymore. And Pepper who just found out about all of this is still stuck on "Tony's dying" and hasn't moved on like he has.

"I want you to be in like with me again," he finally says as an answer. Really, he s willing to settle for like at the moment. And if getting poked and prodded is what it's going to take so she'll start being the sweet kind of worried instead of the angry harpy kind, then he'll let himself be poked and prodded this once. Besides, its not as if SHEILD hadn't sort of treated him medically one time already.

"Can we just..." She sighs. "Is there anything here that can't wait until tomorrow?" she finally answers. "This conversation is not being improved by the fact that I'm starving..."

Tony hands over the smoothie and half eaten bag of chips he'd pulled from the machine almost automatically.

"You were going to pick up Thai," he reminds her as she accepts the bag of chips with a small laugh.

"And go by a pharmacy," she agrees. "Then someone derailed my plans. Oh well, at least the Thai place delivers." She crunches down on one cheddar and sour cream Ruffle with a very innocent look.

"There's a Walgreens outside the main gate," he informs her somberly.

She snorts. Tony Stark, her man with a plan. After climbing around in here for however long she wonders if he'll even manage to stay awake long enough to make a move on her. After being furious with him for running around with his precarious health, she wonders if she's ready to do more than flirt.

He sighs a little. "We should probably stop there...I'm almost out of 'death by green.'"

"Is the chlorophyll really that awful?"

"Nah...just sick to death of drinking it day in and day out for over 18 weeks. Once I don't have to anymore I'm gonna smash the blender ceremonially."

She just manages not to flinch at his timeline. Over three months. He s known about the poisoning for over three months. "And what? Send someone out to Jamba Juice three times a day so you can get shakes?" Pepper gives in and rests her head against the ball of his shoulder because she s just so damn weary of resisting everything. Allowing him to be her headrest is a minor infraction compared to some of what she wants to do. "If we go home now, I can get in a bit of a nap before dinner."

His hand strokes through her hair. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not the one who really should have said 'fuck it' and just stayed in bed this morning?"

"Yes, but someone made me the responsible one in this partnership. Besides, if I'd slept instead of getting up every time you did last night, I'd be fine."

He frowns a little at that. "Sounds like I better move out to the living room couch then, for tonight at least. You're not going to do either of us any good if you drive yourself to the point of collapse, Pep."

Pepper's bright peal of laughter actually stops work as it echoes through the warehouse. She doesn't notice though, just hangs on Tony's shoulder, allowing her stress to seep out of her as she laughs and laughs. The irony of the statement coming from him is just too much.

"Ha-ha. Look at the hypocrite," Tony, getting the joke, replies sardonically.

She shakes her head against his chest, trying to bring herself back under control. It's just...it's been a long day, she has no idea what's doing - either personally or professionally - and she's in love with a man whose entire life is going to be a series of life-threatening events.

God, if that was really going to be a deal breaker for her, then she should have walked the first time she'd threatened to quit.

Tony's arms settle around her comfortably. "Hey be careful," he whispers teasingly. "I kind of like this shirt."

"And I liked the pants before you went and ruined them."

"You liked my pants?" Tony raises an eyebrow.

"I like the way they fit," she admits.

"Tell me more..." His eyes are twinkling.

"Take me home," she counters. The quickness of his response surprises her. And she s not talking about how quickly he stands and pulls her to her feet, taking a position just a little behind her as they walk towards the exit.

Do I get to vote on what happens when we get there? he asks in her ear as they collect Natalie and Happy.

"The last thing you need is an ego-rub, Tony."

"I thought you preferred to refer to it as my 'pride.

"If you're not careful, I'm going to refer to it as your brain."

Tony snorts. "If it is, Potts, I haven't been able to use it much lately."

"I'm sure you've been brainstorming on your own."

"Umm...occasionally. Haven't had much drive to be...thoughtful...recently."

As they leave the building, Pepper twists her head around and whispers into his ear, "Maybe you should think about me tonight."

He shivers just a little. Then leans in to whisper back, "I will. Believe me."

"Good," she volleys back, just the tiniest bit smugly.

"Get a roof!" Until he suddenly appeared behind them, Pepper hadn't realized Rhodey was on the base. Though it figured, considered he was the current military liaison to Hammertech, and therefore responsible for drafting a report about what happened the night before.

"If I ignore him and you ignore him, maybe he's not really there," Tony whispers into Pepper's ear. There are of course, other means of driving Rhodey off, but he doesn't think Pepper's up for PDAs yet.

"So...wanna explain the 7 foot tall metal statue that might as well be an idol to the god of war that's now gracing my spare bedroom, Tony?" Rhodes voice is mostly bemused, which Pepper supposes is a good thing.

Tony looks to Pepper. "He's never had any appreciation for modern art, has he?"

"Or performance art for that matter," Rhodey shoots back, noting the way Tony's arm is draped comfortable around Pepper's waist.

"Your loss," Tony responds. "So Pep...shall we share our Thai food with Rhodey, do you think?"

"I don't know...while I nap do the two of you promise to play nicely?"

"Nap?" In his experience, Pepper Potts does not take naps. As far as Rhodey's concerned, this is a sign of the coming apocalypse.

"Yeah, I kept her up all night." Tony grins until Pepper nudges him quite deliberately in the ribs. "Fine, I couldn't sleep and my sheer engineering genius woke her up repeatedly. And that wasn't a metaphor for anything."

Rhodey looks at her with a grin. "One word, Pepper: sedative." Tony makes a protesting sound, and Rhodey bumps shoulders with him. "Hey it could be worse at least I didn't tell her about your weird Enya induced narcolepsy thing."

"Until now," Tony grouses as he rubs his shoulder. "Ow, by the way. Why aren't you as sore as I am?"

"Enya?" Pepper asks, unable to not.

"Try it sometime after 8 pm. He drops like a stone. I think his mom may have subliminally brainwashed him or something."

Tony opens the door to the town car for Pepper, allowing her to climb in first. Which, incidentally, is another first for their relationship. "You joining us, or are you going to chew me out over the phone for the crackdown later?" he asks the colonel.

"My evening s free. I'd rather curse your lineage in person."

"Lovely. Just remember to keep it down because Pepper will be 'napping.'" Tony places special emphasis on the word. He kind of likes the thought that he's worn her out without trying. When he doesn't feel bad that she's worn out on his behalf, that is.

His feelings on the subject are complicated.

He climbs in then, allowing Happy to close the door for him, Pepper and Rhodey. Though Rhodey, notably, decides to ride up front with Happy. Whether for space or to dig for intelligence Tony doesn't know.

"You should stop baiting him," Pepper murmurs as she kicks off her shoes for the ride back to the penthouse.

"He wouldn't know how to deal with me if I did." Nearly 20 years of friendship and one hell of a pounding has done very little to alter his bond with Rhodey. He slips an arm around her waist and tugs gently; Pepper slides into the curve of his side willingly.

"You are covered in grease," she points out, though really it's just his jeans and the front of his t-shirt that have suffered. The side she's pressed up against appears to be relatively clean. "You're honestly telling me you'd only been pulling things apart for half an hour."

"What? You doubt my manual agility?" Tony's eyes twinkle at her merrily.

"You're really dirty," she repeats. "And not in a good way. It usually takes you awhile to work up to this state."

"Okay...maybe I was working closer to a hour," he reluctantly concedes. "But believe me, it didn't feel like it."

"Of course it doesn't. Time always flies when you're having fun."

Tony wants to tell her that times also flies when you're running out of it, but that would be something of a mood crusher, and he kinda wants her to be thinking about him during her nap too.

Pepper, oblivious to his thoughts, sighs deeply. "You're going to be back out there tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Pep, no one else is qualified to know what needs to be pulled. Though I suppose I could try showing Rhodey."

'Yeah,' she thinks. 'And that would last for maybe half the day. And then he'll be back down there.' Rather than fight him over this, perhaps she should offer a compromise before it becomes an issue.

"We could spend a few hours down there tomorrow afternoon," she offers slowly. This provides for time to sleep late in the morning, and provides her company while he's there. Hopefully he'll be more tempted to take breaks if she's waiting there with him. Besides, she'll be working and she might as well work at the same time he is, otherwise she'll drive him nuts and make him more inclined to find occupation of his own.

Tony nods his head. "I can live with that. I probably only have about another half day s work left anyway gutting those damn drones out. Some of Vanko's modifications got -" He makes a motion like gears turning in his head.

She's uncertain if he means crazy or crazy-advanced. Not that it matters, since the drones for the most part have been blown into unrecognizable rubble.

Tony yawns suddenly. "You know, maybe I should traumatize Rhodey by ditching him and joining you for that nap."

"Do you really think he's a man who's going to be put off because you're tired? I think you're just going to have to settle for calling it an early night."

His hand runs feather light up the arch of her neck. "I could definitely live with that."

"To sleep," she emphasizes.

"Spoil sport," he banters back idly. "Don't worry...speed seduction's not really my thing."

She snorts. "Anymore."

"I was never the one doing the seducing. Well not really." He shrugs, "To be truthful I missed the slow dance occasionally."

She's not going to go any farther into that with him. Not now. Because from the outside looking in, he'd certainly looked seductive on more than one occasion. Now, whether anyone ever resisted long enough to allow him to put intent into action? That she'd be willing to accept.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm going to make you work your ass off."

Tony snorts. "And this is new how, exactly?"

"Well, I just want to do everything I can to help you be...satisfied."

He gulps. "Pepper if you want me to be good, you've got to stop feeding these lines to me."

"Why? I've yet to hear anyone claim you're ever anything but good."

Tony's brows raise. "Really? Do tell."

"We've already determined I'm not stroking your ego tonight, Stark."

"Or salving my pride, or providing mental stimulation. You're such a puritan, Pepper." He can feel her shoulders quiver as she laughs quietly.

"Do you ever give up?"

"Not when there's a tempting challenge in front of me."

"Mmmm..." Pepper stretches, like she's going to come in for a kiss, but then there's the sharp sound of knuckles on the divider. Rhodes has clearly been keeping an eye on them.

"Maybe he thinks I have brain damage and that you're taking advantage of my helpless state," Pepper says after she kisses Tony's cheek somewhat defiantly.

"More likely he's got some 'if I ain't got a life than you ain't getting one' envy."

The car pulls to a stop in front of their building. Tony gets out first so that he can offer a hand to Pepper...and so he can hide the moan that straightening out causes.

"You two aren't nearly as attractive as you think you are," Rhodey mentions once they're closed into the elevator without an audience.

"Bullshit," Tony fires back. "We are sex god seals with grapes."

"Hey, if you're going to admit that, more power to you. Most men would try to bluff their way out of that. Overcompensate. Drive fast sports cars, that sort of thing -"

Rhodey grunts as Tony balls up his fist and punches him good naturedly.

"There is a lady present," he informs Rhodes.

"Two actually, judging by the way that you hit."

Pepper rolls here eyes. "And on that note...I'm going to lay down awhile. Tony, please do your best to not let this dissolve into actually pulling out tape measures."

"Is this a bad time to mention the size of my measuring tape?" This time it's Tony who grunts as Pepper hits his chest. "Hey, sweetie pie? Can I get some clean clothes?" he calls as she shuts the bedroom door behind her.

"You are pushing it," Rhodey informs him a moment before the door opens a crack and a clean pair of jeans and a new shirt land on the floor. The door closes again.

Tony pounds on the door. "I need boxers too, Honeypot..."

The door opens a second time. From where Rhodes is standing, it looks like Pepper hauls Tony down by the front of his shirt. Her voice murmurs something in that ominous cadence women get when their words are actually pretty pleasant. The kind of tone that makes a man take a minute before he realizes he s been threatened.

When Tony turns away and the door closes for a last time, he actually looks somewhat abashed. Though, maybe that's just because the boxers he's got in one hand are covered in tiny pink hearts.

"Pepper says pet names belong in the bedroom," he announces. "Though, I use them at my own risk."

"TMI, Stark."

"What else is new. Excuse me for a moment." Tony actually takes his clothes into one of the bathrooms off the hall to change instead of dropping trou where he is.

It's enough to make Rhodey raises an eyebrow for a moment. Since when is Tony modest?

Since never.

Though come to think of it...his mind slides back to an earlier conversation. He frowns. The first thing he and Tony are covering this afternoon are the words 'no longer dying.'


	4. Chapter 4

And hour and a half later the food arrives, and Pepper wakes to a much more somber and introspective looking Tony. He shakes her shoulder gently, waiting for her eyes to open and focus on him, before bending down to kiss her gently on the cheek.

"You okay?" she asks, studying his face as she stretches her hands above her head with a yawn.

"I'm fine, just tired." She can tell he's stretching the truth by the way he answers a little too quickly. "As it turns out dinner's just gonna be you and I, after all. While you were asleep Rhodey got called back to the base early."

"Called back as in he had a new assignment, or did he just want some time to cool down after your discussion?" Pepper pushes herself upright in the bed, allowing her light blanket to fall away. She doesn't know if the two men discussed Tony's health or not, but there's at least a chance. And she really doubts Rhodey would have taken the news of how close Tony had actually come to dying with any particular grace, especially considering how long they'd been friends.

"The former. His commander had a few questions he wanted answers to ASAP."

"About the suit?" She can't help it; she reaches out and smoothes her thumbs over the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. She knows they're caused for the most part by laughter and long hours spent staring at tiny things, but she hates them in this setting.

Tony's had enough burdens for a whole platoon to carry lately.

Tony just shrugs. "From what I could hear of their phone conversation, the Air Force brass wants an disposition from Rhodey detailing his various interactions with Hammer. They're taking the idiot's apparent side-dealing with Vanko very seriously. For more than one reason, too. There were several guards killed in Vanko's escape from Monaco so Hammer may wind up charged with crimes against TWO governments."

"Good," Pepper exclaims. "That son of a bitch almost got a lot of people killed at the Expo, you and Rhodey among them. And there he was acting all innocent, like he hadn't done anything...hadn't been harboring a murder in exchange for help with his tech. You know he actually complimented me on 'thinking like a CEO' when I had him arrested? Like that was the only way I could end the competition between Hammertech and Stark Industries."

As if there'd ever been a competition to begin with.

Pepper's surprised by the strength of emotion that floods out of her. Last night she'd been too busy to do more than dismiss Hammer – and his little threat – as inconsequential compared to the larger picture. But today she's pretty pissed at the man whose selfish need to stroke his own ego had caused so many people so much harm.

Tony snorts at her irritation, reaching over to lay a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You know...I used to find it fairly ironic that that idiot wanted so much to be viewed as my equal in all things. Well he's gotten what he wanted finally - he's pissed off the Department of Defense every bit as much as me."

Pepper rolls her eyes at that assessment. Outside of their primary occupations, the two men have nothing in common, especially in the departments of talent and ability. "Irony is the ultimate equalizer." She snorts, "Did you see him with Christine? God, can you picture that affair ever happening? She would have eaten him for breakfast."

"Undoubtedly. Though…" He grins a little bit. "Seeing her in that context must have been hugely satisfying for you." He knows it had certainly been enjoyable for him to watch Pepper quash Everhart with one well-manicured paw before his departure for Afghanistan. She didn't know he knew this, but Pepper's codeword for particularly difficult extractions has always been "a champ."

He'd actually gotten Jarvis to play the footage for him while he was supposedly getting ready to leave in his master bedroom, and he'd marveled at Pepper's rare gift for bringing new meaning to the term "tongue lashing."

"I may have taken a little more pleasure than was strictly necessary in, um...dealing with her." There's absolutely no way to describe her catty remark in a positive light. "Guess she finally saw first hand what years of picking up the dry cleaning without assuming it was somehow 'beneath her' actually gets a woman."

Pepper had long ago figured out that only the doer could truly make or not make ANY task demeaning.

"No, what she saw was what years of loyalty gets a woman," he murmurs. Then he snorts. "You know, Christine only really ever saw what she wanted to see in both of us. More's the pity. The irony is you would have been a great source of dirt on me if she hadn't been so eager to try and make herself somehow better than you." Tony sighs tiredly after that observation, bending willingly into her waiting embrace. Her hands find the back of his neck, where her fingers start gently massaging in tiny circles. First up, and then back down under the collar of his shirt. Within a minute or two he's relaxed into her, his head resting on her shoulder, eyes closed as she works the stiffness out of his sore muscles.

"God..." She murmurs, "Remind me to tell Natalie you need a visit from a masseuse tomorrow morning."

Tony shakes his head. "Don't like other people touching me."

"Is that why you don't let anyone give you things?"

"Sort of. Depressed immune system. Anyone close enough to touch could pass their germs on to me."

He's heavy; there's just more of him than there is of her, from his skeleton out. As he relaxes into her, she starts slipping back until they're half propped up on the pillows and half on each other. Tony's legs lie over hers, but Pepper is half-sprawled over his chest, hands sweeping back and forth and over shoulders and arms until Tony is purring like one his obsessively tuned cars.

His lips are a source of constant wonder, one that Pepper comes back to over and over again until she can feel the first traces of "rug burn" on her cheeks.

"We should eat," she murmurs finally, without conviction.

"Mmm-hmm." Tony's absent agreement has nothing to do with food. He shifts on the bed until Pepper's the one laying the most prone. Then those fabulously talented lips start trekking over her cheek and down her neck, and the thought of dinner fades away again.

About the time he's investigating the loose neck of her shirt, they're interrupted by Tony's wrist watch, which starts vibrating quietly. He groans in protest but pulls back nonetheless. "Sorry," he mumbles. "This thing goes off whenever its time for me to drink another death by green..."

Pepper just nods as she breathes deeply and tries to get her heart back under control. 'No, no don't meet his eyes,' she tells herself, because Tony's eyes are dark with lust and lazy with confidence, and she's trying to work enough steel back into her spine to let her get off the bed. So meeting his eyes is a bad idea when her resolve is as shaky as his. "S'Okay. I'm getting hungry too."

"You want to dish up onto plates while I blend?" Tony inquires. Though maybe 'dish' isn't the best word. His very rumpled and very flushed former employee/boss is a dish far more enticing than anything waiting for them outside the bedroom. Especially with the pulse fluttering madly in her throat.

Even before the palladium poisoning, he never thought he'd live to see the day when Pepper was in this state because of him.

"Yeah, sure." 'Dishes,' Pepper tries to focus. Somewhere in the kitchen there should be a 16 piece sushi dish set that will serve for dinner. Or they could just eat out of the cartons and then she won't have to clean up after them.

She opts for the latter once Tony gives her a hand out of bed, going in search of liquid and chopsticks. A single word to Jarvis turns on the light in the kitchen.

'Has the order I put in...' She pulls open the refrigerator and lets out a silent celebratory, 'Yes!' She'd used one of her breaks earlier at the office to arrange the delivery of a few select groceries, not above a little bribery when it came to getting Tony to eat. And she knows for a fact he loves mango salsa, pineapple and pomegranate.

Not that she's not...fond of the juice herself. Okay, perhaps addicted is a more honest assessment. She still firmly denies any accusations of 'filching,' and if Tony tries the argument that anything inside his fridge must technically be his - especially as he's the one that pays Pepper's wages - then he really is going to be sleeping on the couch tonight. Let nothing stand between a woman and her cravings.

Behind the carton of juice is a small container of fresh pomegranate seeds, which Pepper pulls out to have with her meal. The bit of sweet should complement her Phad Se Yu nicely.

"Pepper, I love you." Tony interrupts her happy moment by coming up behind her and swiping the entire container of juice. And for someone who'd just moment before had eyes only for her, he's looking at that juice just a little too fondly.

"I'd be more apt to believe you, Stark, if you weren't making eyes at my drink..."

"Yours? It's my -" Pepper kisses him again, just to shut him up. Though, she can't really bring herself to object when he presses her up against the counter.

Tony grins when he pulls away. "For the record? I like our new method of conflict resolution."

Pepper snorts. "You would." Not that she minds it herself. "What do you say to a movie with dinner? Something light on explosions, perhaps?"

He considers, "Could I talk you into the new Clash of the Titans?"

Pepper makes a face. Not that she can't do summer popcorn movies, but after yesterday she can do without the more aggressive types of conflict resolution. "I was thinking more along the lines of Back to the Future."

"Better Off Dead?"

"No. I morally object to dancing hamburgers. Have you seen The 'Burbs?" Pepper asks, betting he hasn't seen the old Tom Hanks movie. However, her favorite line from that movie has always been, "Take me to the hospital, I've just been blown up," which Tony can relate to, and the straight up comedy shouldn't weigh too heavily on either of them.

"Nope. Not really in the mood for something that requires much attention though. I'll raise you either Monty Python or Space Camp."

"Agreed. Don't use all my juice." Pepper piles all their cartons onto a tray and takes it into the media room. By the time Tony joins her with his shake, she's separated her meal from his Khi Mao - the jalapenos and mint chili sauce definitely qualify as "spicy" in her book - and has broken into the spring rolls. Icons for three movies float on the media screen, waiting for a cue to play.

"You pick," she tells him, aware that once they've eaten, they might not even last long enough to finish their movie.

He debates a minute then shrugs. "Jarvis, throw on Monty Python." Then he sits down and starts picking through the contents of his carton in a years-long preordained pattern.

She snorts. "I still don't know why you won't just let me tell them to leave the bean sprouts out since you obviously don't like them..."

"They have to cook with the rest of the food or it effects the overall taste," he informs her, setting another stringy sprout on the reject pile.

"Then why not just eat them?" She's never asked before, just allowed that everyone was entitled to their eccentricities.

"Texture thing. Their stringiness always makes me gaggy."

Pepper nods in acknowledgement as she pulls her feet up onto the couch and tucks her toes under his thigh. For years she's wished she could use him as a personal heater when she's cold, and now she gets to. This is possibly the best thing about their new relationship - no more cold feet.

Or at least, not physical ones.

"Hey - are you aware they actually breed allergen neutral white strawberries?" The question pops out of Tony abruptly.

Pepper glances at him as she nuzzles her feet deeper under his leg. "That doesn't sound particularly appetizing."

"They're supposed to taste a bit milder than the red, but otherwise, not all that bad. I'm tempted to buy you some on special order after my fuck up the other day. Though," He shrugs, then grins, "I suppose if we're really talking about penance I should just buy us both a pomegranate tree."

She laughs. "Not too much symbolism there, Stark. You'd have to agree in writing to surrender half the seeds."

"I'd agree happily if I got to eat my half off your belly. How's that for symbolism, Potts?" Tony half grins, half leers.

Pepper blushes as she takes a bite of her own meal before gesturing to the TV. "Um...do I want to know how many times you've already seen this film, Tony?" Anything other than a change of topic will just leave them both in cold shower territory.

"Probably not," he admits before following her lead. It's not until he has every last bean sprout removed that he starts eating in earnest. He manages about half a carton and a third of the movie before his eyes start growing heavy.

She finishes her own meal then shifts to rest with her head against his shoulder and one hand resting on his upper chest. "Go to sleep if you need to. I'll wake you at the end of the movie..."

"Pepper?"

"Yeah?" Her ear against his chest adds a deeper, richer dynamic to his already pleasant voice.

"What are we doing?"

Surprised by the plaintive note in his voice, Pepper raises her head and looks him in the face. He doesn't quite meet her eyes, but he doesn't look uncomfortable exactly. Pensive, maybe.

"Is that something we have to decide right now?" she asks. If they haven't had the "you lied to me/I was dying" discussion yet, then they can't have the "what does this mean" discussion, because the outcome of one will influence the other. And he's in no shape to be up until 2 AM analyzing their behavior of the past few months at the moment.

Now he's really not meeting her eyes, but when he says, "No...but...I don't want to get used to this if you're going to leave," she knows he's telling her the absolute truth.

And the vulnerability he's showing deserves nothing less than the same.

"I..." There's so much she doesn't know. So many doubts yet to conquer. Still she can give him at least one reassuring truth. "You're not the only one who's been miserable lately, Tony. Because we were fighting yes, but also because we were spending so much of our time apart. We will figure this out in time because...well honestly, I think that we have to. The alternative just isn't sustainable."

He watches her, perhaps needing to see the truth as she sees it, perhaps just needing to see her certainty. Whatever it is he needs, he obviously finds, because he tugs her back down to his chest. And when the movie is over and she's trying to rouse him enough to get into bed, the soft syllables of her name are a truth of another kind.

000ooo000ooo000

Pepper insists he wear coveralls when they return to the warehouse at Ft. Hamilton the following day. Tony argues about this - or at least tries to - because he really hates coveralls. He finds them uncomfortable and excruciatingly unflattering. However, Pepper insists.

He's pretty sure it's revenge for the jeans sitting in a sink of cold water in the penthouse's de facto laundry room in a vain attempt to salvage them.

He grumbles as he climbs out of the limo, "These are like wearing a saggy diaper, Potts." It's not fair when Pepper looks so nice, delectable even, in a casual fitted top and a skirt that flares temptingly around her knees

"Nice imagery. Are those of the infant or the octogenarian variety?" Her sunglasses are of the very stylish, bug-eyed variety, and he wants to snatch them off her face so he can see her eyes while she teases him.

"Ha-ha. Why exactly are you tagging along again? Please note the proper answer better not be 'to motherhen' or otherwise badger me."

"Because this way I can get some work done while you're similarly occupied?" She pats the laptop bag at her side and doesn't mention her theory that he'll be more tempted to take breaks if she's around. "I don't have any scheduled meetings today, but that doesn't change the fact that Monday is going to be hell without some sort of plan of attack."

He nods in acceptance of that. "At least you'll be able to pacify the Board with the facts about Hammer's complicity with Vanko, and you can start hinting about the starkonium if you need to throw them something profitable to gnaw on. I'm not ready to go public with the plans for any of the generators yet, but they respond to my chaos better when it spurns a potentially financially viable form of penitence."

"If you're talking about your new...deep freeze...process, I'd prefer to wait until you and Jarvis finish analyzing whatever it is you did before bringing that up with the Board. Besides, that's only one of the plans that needs to be made." She stops him before they enter the building. "Tony, we're going to have to decide what we're going to do about the resignation thing. Keep that in mind please before you work yourself into the ground today."

He sighs then nods. "Yeah, well I figured that we'd eat a good dinner tonight, and then start to hash things out before we crash for the night. As long as we keep the cable news off beforehand, we should be able to manage a real conversation."

"You're saying we can't with it on?" Pepper raises an eyebrow.

"I'm saying that whenever you start working up an ulcer over what other people are saying about SI or my latest activities, it doesn't exactly leave you in a constructive mindset where you'll actually calm down enough to really listen to me." He darts in and kisses her cheek because it's light and playful, and just enough to keep him satisfied at the moment. "Just a thought, Pepper – I'm on your side, so you might want to stop lashing out at me when I'm actually TRYING to help."

She sighs, but nods her head. "To be fair, it's not like either of us has proven to be particularly good at the whole 'heart to heart' thing even without the distractions, Tony."

To her surprise Tony actually laughs. "You mean that I suck at it," he replies bluntly. "Which is why you don't even see me try very often." He shrugs a little, "If it helps to know, Potts, it's a Stark family trait. At least I come by it honestly."

"Yeah?" She has to love him a little for taking the lion's share of the blame for their tendency towards miscommunication. Especially when they both know full well that her habitual reaction to confrontation is distraction.

"I think Dad and I's emotional communication skills are inversely proportional to our mathematical talents. Though," his expression is almost tender, "Where it really matters we do get the most important stuff across eventually." She can't quite put a name on the look that flits briefly over his face.

"We'll figure it out," she assures him. "Together we can do anything." They're far too much in public for Pepper to allow herself to return his quick peck on the cheek, but she does squeeze his forearm, underlining her assurance with the physical contact. "So you go do my thing, and I'll go do mine, and later we'll figure out what our next step is."

He nods, and for a moment Pepper can feel an almost electrical current leaping between them. They've had moments like this before – that night in his basement when she'd threatened to quit comes to mind. There's always been something about them together that supercharges them both, but this…intensity…is new.

Tony's smile is a little forced as he turns away from her and addresses a waiting drone. "Hey boyos - long time no see. Let's get going."

Pepper lets out a shaky breath as she moves into the inviting shade of the open bay doors. She watches Tony for several minutes, taking mental notes on his balance, agility, and range of motion. He'd slept better the night before, waking up less and getting up only twice. This morning, not only had he eaten an acceptable breakfast, but he'd modified one of the standard issue Stark Industries bio scanners. Though he hadn't said anything about having used it, he'd seemed more relaxed, definitely more teasing. For awhile it seemed like his hands were everywhere she turned, pulling, stroking, petting until she'd been about ready to pin him to the wall. Every time she'd started to chastise him, the boyish grin she hadn't seen in so long would spread across his face, and invitation to join him in his fun. She'd let the offer go without comment, unwilling to turn it down but not ready to fully accept it yet either. He was still recovering and she was still processing, so working out their problems on a mattress seemed premature at this stage.

Still, they'd better get to the conversations they've put off quickly. She doesn't know how long she's going to be able to resist if he keeps making those silent offers.

Convinced that - though he's not at 100% - he is at least healthy enough to be working, Pepper sits down at one of the less wobbly card tables, sets up her laptop and satellite link to Jarvis, and allows everything but the screen in front of her to fade into the background.

000ooo000ooo000

Tony has been working for nearly three hours, and taken two breaks in that time period. Pepper's desire to join him had become all too apparent during those two breaks. Instead of barely taking enough time to gulp down something wet and cold, he'd been tempted to linger - to talk and tease and distract. And she'd allowed him to, as if his company is a pleasure rather than an interruption.

Frankly, it's kind of weird, just like a lot of things between them now. And just as frankly, it's something he knows he can adjust to. Maybe there's something to the old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder, because he really likes knowing she'll be there whenever he comes back. Pepper is a distraction, yes, but a good distraction.

He's standing over the prone and as reconstructed as possible body of one of the drones, half distracted by thoughts of a distinctly Pepper brand of welcome homes and half by his findings, when a loud voice over his shoulder nearly makes him jump out of his skin.

"Christ," he gasps, more breathless than he'd like to admit.

"So." It's hard to tell what exactly Fury is looking at. Maybe he's just impressed by how orderly everything is; the reconstruction of a crashed plane couldn't be more precise. Maybe he just likes it when the minions snap-to. Tony's still getting a read on the guy.

Tony glances over his shoulder as he crouches down to reassemble a bit of casing he'd pried apart. "You need to get a bell or something." Fury snorts. "Seriously...everyone could use more cowbell. You can probably pass it off as bling. I take it Natashlie's been keeping you updated on our situation?"

"Who?"

"Your Super Secret Spying Agent Lady."

"Agent Romanov," Fury emphasizes her correct name "has spent the better part of the last 48-hours covering your ass with the media while you and Ms. Potts get the rest of your ducks in a row. She thought your girl might have enough on her hands just dealing with you without also having to issue statements to the press…says Ms. Potts is scarily efficient when she's got a firm grasp on a situation." Fury's eye flickers over Tony, the glance saying a lot about what he thought about anyone getting a firm grasp on the younger man.

Tony nods a little. "Understood. And my thanks." The words are hard to find and only offered after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. He's not used to other people taking his wellbeing seriously, especially when they're not being paid to do so. Sometimes he even wonders if Pepper's affection is just a byproduct of habit and the desire to be the best at what she does. After all, he had originally hired her to look after him, and Pepper's never met a routine she didn't like. With Pepper on the mind, Tony gives Fury the friendly warning, "By the way, I wouldn't suggest calling her that anywhere within her possible hearing distance."

"Calling who what?"

"Ms. Potts. Anyone who refers to Pepper as a 'girl' in her presence will inevitably end up with a heel up their ass."

Fury is unimpressed. Unlike Tony, he's actually seen Natasha in action. After that, righteous anger isn't terribly impressive. "While we're on the subject of proper names, I'd erase 'Natashalie' from your vocabulary for the time being."

Tony shrugs. "Assignment's over, isn't it? What does it matter what I call her? I've got a second new and improved ticker so I can get back to the Iron Man business, Vanko's really dead this time, taking the secret of arc reactor design with him, in a few months I can kick off that energy race my old man dreamed of, etc., etc. So what's it really matter if I want to refer to her as that."

"Be that as it may, Justin Hammer is still an issue." Fury glances around the room, catching sight of Pepper over in her corner. "Clearly you have enough sense to keep her close until we can figure out how much of a threat he actually represents, but we'd like to leave Agent Romanov in place at Stark Industries as a precaution at least until the conclusion of his trial. I thought you might appreciate the extra insurance."

"Um...what? Insurance against what?" Tony is feeling a little blindsided at the moment.

"Hammer made some serious threats to Ms Potts the other night," Fury informs him like it should not be new information.

Tony just blinks. "He what? What exactly did he say?"

Fury's eyebrow climbs, "Looks like you and Ms. Potts have some new ducks to discuss..."

"How about you and I have the discussion first." For one thing, it's probably the only way that he'll get the whole truth in one shot. Yeah, they've had a lot of miscommunication errors in the last few months, but if there's one thing Pepper has always downplayed, it's threats to her wellbeing. Doesn't matter what kind – weather related, head colds, acts of god… Pepper Potts doesn't let little things like her safety stand in her way when she's determined to do something. In fact, the subject has led them to several rather loud 'discussions' over the years.

"Alright. There are several witnesses willing to go on record as saying that Hammer made a direct threat towards Ms. Potts before he was taken away by police. Which would be worrisome enough on its own, even if the team of lawyers Hammertech employs weren't more than worth their retainers. They've already arranged a bail hearing, right down to ensuring they get a judge who has a reputation for reaching out to people that can contribute to a few pet political causes. Now, it's likely he'll be confined to house arrest until the charges against him are firmed up, but that's a lot of leeway for a guy with his kind of money. What concerns us is that Hammer seems to be placing the blame for his current difficulties squarely on the shoulders of your Ms. Potts, under the illusion that he would have come through this unscathed by his association with Vanko if she hadn't blown the whistle on him."

Tony's jaw tightens. "And you think he has employees still on the outside willing to do harm to Pepper?" While he's certainly never feared Hammer as a weapon designer or chick magnet or anything else before now, he'd underestimated the man's total lack of morals when it came to making 'friends.'

"You understand our concern. Make no mistake, we have a vested interest in maintaining the services of Iron Man, which means we can't have you going off the deep end if someone hurts your girl. Stop glaring, because you know that's how you think of her." A fierce look of his own makes Fury's words a little ironic. "I don't care how cold blooded it sounds, that's the way the world works. Besides, Agent Romanov trusts her as much as she trusts anyone, which is a good enough reason to extend SHIELD's protection in my book. So are you going to accept gracefully and tell me why the sliced and diced drones didn't follow the snap, crackle, pop routine the rest pulled, or are we going to argue about this some more?"

Tony's really not big on accepting anything gracefully, but he does grit out between clenched teeth, "The 'sliced and diced' ones had major interruptions in their power supply, which kept most of their payloads from detonating when Vanko sent the command to overload their arcs. Are we done here?" He points to the work around them. He'd satisfied himself yesterday that there was no surviving scraps that anyone could use to reverse engineer their own arc reactor. Today had mostly been for satisfying his curiosity about what kind of skeletal systems the drones had relied on, but now that interest has been blown sky high in favor of getting Pepper out of town ASAP.

Didn't matter how many holes his house had in it right now, his shop is still safer than Fort Knox.

"No, we're done - unless you've got any other news to share."

"No. I've recovered all the bits that puts the RT technology at risk. The rest belongs to the military." Tony wipes his hands on his coveralls before packing up all of his tools. His brain has switched gears so quickly that it leaves him a little oblivious to everything but his main goal of getting Pepper somewhere safe. But there's still just a small, quiet part of his mind that's able to point out how nice it is to worry about something other than his own sorry ass for the first time in months. Not to mention his options when it comes to Pepper's safety are a lot more clear cut than his own had been.

"Hey, Stark!" Tony pauses, halfway across the warehouse as Fury calls to him. "I'm supposed to pass on the fact that your travel arrangements back to LA have been already taken care of."

"Thanks for the tip!" Tony calls back. At least he's not going to have to fight with Pepper about their next step. He can just whisk her off to the private airport they normally utilize, and she can bitch about it on the flight home.


	5. Chapter 5

'Tony is in a foul mood,' Pepper thinks to herself as she keeps to her end of the couch and pretends to focus on her computer screen. True, he probably looks relaxed enough to the casual observer, but he's very definitely claiming a space over on his end of couch and isn't willing to share it. When he speaks to the steward, his words are clipped and abrupt. And when he looks at her? There's something dark in his eyes, but Pepper's pretty certain it's not passion.

But she'd done her job, and pointed out as they boarded the plane that they had a scheduled appearance in New York in the morning to explain their stance on the future leadership of Stark Industries and it might be wise to remain on the East Coast for a few more days.

Tony had replied that video conferencing existed for a reason and he wanted to get the suit home and get started on repairs in the basement.

She'd calmly asked if he was alright as they ran through the usual pre-flight routine.

He'd given a non-answer that was so much like the non-answers she'd been hearing for the last few months that she'd habitually stopped pressing the subject. Instead she'd asked if he wanted to talk about what they were going to tell the Board tomorrow and he'd shaken his head. That was nearly forty minutes ago now, and Pepper's actually running out of work.

She's pretty efficient, and Natalie – whoever else she might be – also has a good head on her shoulders, though the other woman has made herself surprisingly scarce. Which means Pepper should really take advantage of the available privacy.

Even if it does mean sticking her hand in a possible hornets' nest

Sighing softly, Pepper closes her laptop with and sets it to the side. She stretches her arms high over her head with a low groan, twisting this way and that, bending low to pour herself a new cup of tea from the small carafe the steward had brewed for her before slumping back into her seat and toeing off her shoes.

Her light acrobatics have at least caught Tony's attention, which had kinda been the point. It's hard to stare down someone who's busy ignoring your existence.

"Hey there. Finish your work up all right?"

His voice is quiet. Perhaps even solicitous. It soothes her ruffled feathers enough for her to calm herself down. Her lips quirk as she answers, "Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing. Looks like you've been brooding…"

"I just have a lot on my mind at the moment." He shrugs noncommittally.

"Anything I can help with?" She chews her lip as she studies him. There hadn't been that much new information for him to absorb at the warehouse, just more of the same from yesterday. Well, unless something had occurred during his conversation with Nick Fury that she doesn't know about.

Judging by his demeanor that's a distinct possibility.

"There's not really more that CAN be done about what's on my mind at the moment," Tony admits. "Thanks though. The support is appreciated."

"Of course." Well as far as exchanges could go that had produced a big fat nothing.

Tony doesn't say anything more, just retreats back into his own head. Pepper knows she should just let it be for awhile – but can't seem to leave things alone, probably because she's learned the hard way in recent days to expect trouble following his periods of silence.

'Plus he just looks exhausted.' Or what the emotion passed for in Tony.

So she sits back down. "You…you're doing all right, aren't you? Physically I mean? The palladium issue is resolving itself and the…starkonium…isn't somehow making things worse?" Would he tell her his health situation had started changing again?

She wishes for the umpteenth time that an actual doctor were supervising his recovery.

His hand reaches out to squeeze her hand reassuringly. "I'm fine, Pep. Just a little worn out." He uses his hold on her to gently slide her across the seat so that she's closer to him. Pepper holds on to his hand when he moves to let go, and he settles his fingers back into hers. The contact steadies her further and she's not ready to lose it yet.

"I understand that sentiment. It seems like the phone calls just never stop lately." Lawyers, board members, security people…all seem to have information to share or questions that need some kind of answer IMMEDIATELY in the wake of the Hammertech escapade. "On the bright side, in a couple of hours we'll be back in LA and you can lose yourself in your garage for a while."

He probably needs some time in his own space without her hovering over him, Pepper acknowledges. It's not as if the last few days haven't left them both with a mountain of experiences to process. Tony's shop has always been his sanctuary in a way, the only place he ever completely relaxes.

"Speaking of which…" Tony's quiet voice interrupts her thought process. "I'm kind of hoping to get you to come stay with me at the mansion for awhile once we get home." He rubs his forehead but doesn't make eye contact. "I've been sleeping better with you close the past couple of nights and it's easier for us to talk stuff out without also having to worry about making separate commutes every morning and evening. I know the ground floor needs some work, but we can reset part of the basement to serve as temporary living space."

Pepper blinks at him for a few seconds before a poorly disguised smile pulls at her lips. "Let me understand, Mr. Stark. You're asking me in to move into your garage with you?" Ohhh...sure. Most women who marry billionaires get mansions. As in, multiple mansion sized houses with walls, and bedrooms, and functional kitchens. Her billionaire offers her a garage.

"Hey! The decor may be...rustic at present. But you really can't beat the electronic toys, the robotic butlers, not to mention the security. Seriously, Potts. I'll get a Tempur-Pedic delivered, we can throw up some privacy screens – order some no slip sheets."

Pepper just rolls her eyes at that.

"Tony. I have an apartment. A nice one. Where my bed is more than a mattress on the floor." She makes the argument mostly on principle. His confession that he sleeps better next to her is…sweet. But more than that, it's personal. It's Tony Stark telling her something personal and private. Once in a blue moon didn't even describe the occurrence.

"It doesn't have the shop beat for privacy and security." He shrugs a little. "Which matters a lot at present. Vanko was out there without our knowledge for over week. Who knows where he left any nasty little surprises."

Pepper's lips thin as Tony hits on an argument that's hard to brush aside. "Is this the real reason you're insisting on our quick departure from New York?

"Partly, yes."

Pepper can feel her eyes narrow as she studies him. His face is open, eyes wide and direct. They've played this game of poker-face chicken before. "You're not telling me something," she says. It's not an accusation really, but she knows she's right.

"Justin Hammer should also be out by lunchtime or sooner today – placed on house arrest or released on bail according to Fury." Pepper understands the surface meaning of his words, but not the meaning behind them. Yeah, she's pissed that Hammer's getting out of custody so easily, but that was money for you. As for this cut and run business, was New York seriously not big enough for the two of them? The two of them being Tony and Hammer, of course.

"That's what this is about? Why you're upset?" she finally asks, confusion clear in her tone.

"Considering he's been making death threats toward you, Pepper? Hell yes."

"Death...? What?" Pepper's nose and forehead crinkle the way they always do when he throws her for a loop. "You mean the other night at the Expo?" He nods. "To be fair, it wasn't exactly a death threat, Tony." She knows it's a long shot, asking him to be fair.

"Fury and the other witnesses seem to all disagree with you."

"Fury sounds like the kind of guy who spends his life in the shadows, dealing with one manmade catastrophe after another. So maybe he's not the best person to be gaining perspective from." Tony is so clearly not satisfied by this response. "Fine. I called the police when I realized Hammer was in collusion with Vanko. The police arrived, arrested him despite his protestations that he was cooperating with the effort to stop the drones, and that's when he accused me of thinking like a CEO and taking steps to eliminate the competition. After that, he said..." Pepper pauses a little at this point, because while the words themselves are pretty innocent, the meaning behind them had been anything but. Despite that though, she'd never actually thought she'd be in any real danger due to Hammer. "He said he'd be 'seeing me.' Which may or may not be accurate. I mean, I assume we'll be called as witnesses if he ends up in court." The recitation is to the point, dry, and filled with the kind of big words Pepper uses when she's trying to distract him.

Tony just shrugs, not eased one whit by her explanation. "Either way it makes sense for you to stay with me at the mansion for awhile – at least until your apartment is thoroughly checked over by the people in security. Hell, they can even upgrade it if necessary. 'Cause face it, is your current apartment security really sufficient against the caliber of Vanko or any of Hammer's other 'friends'?"

Pepper pulls her hand away, breaking the grasp they've been maintaining this entire time. She rubs the palms against her thighs several times before pouring herself a cup of tea. She cradles the cup in her hands, absorbing the warmth, the weightless comfort of the spicy orange scent.

"You really think he might try something," she finally says. Not a question, but a statement of fact.

"He was willing to work with a murderer, Pepper, just to say he'd finally one-upped me. He could get really petty after failing to do that. Especially since the DOD is making eyes at me so I'll head up efforts to fix his mess. That I have no intention of touching a single drone won't matter to him."

There's silence as Pepper drinks one cup of tea and pours another.

Finally she says, "So is this gonna be the new norm now, you making security related last minute decisions without telling me why? 'Cause last I checked, I'm supposed to be the one babysitting you, not the other way around." She can tell by the look on his face that her words take him by surprise, though she can't begin to fathom why. Very suddenly she feels the weight of the last few days pressing into her. "This goes back to what I said before; about being left out of necessary strategic plan making. If I don't know why you're doing what you are its very hard to react in any useful way, much less proactively."

She blesses the double-strong tea as incredible foresight on her part and waits for Tony to reply. When he does it's with a sheepish expression. "Point taken I will try to work on that. Still, in regards to all of our security… New pond, bigger fish, Pep. I think under the circumstances, both our job descriptions have been altered slightly."

It's not an answer OR a promise to be more forthcoming in the future, however Pepper can't help but laugh at his mention of job descriptions. "I was serious you know. About resigning as CEO. It's too much responsibility for anyone to handle everything alone, given the job's general volatility. At least before you became Iron Man we were two people trying to do the job of three running Stark Industries. But lately it's been just me doing the work of three while you deal with Vanko on top of Iron Man's other commitments."

She shakes her head a little to clear it before taking another sip. "I *can't* be three people... not on top of 'us' as well. Not if I want to maintain the basic shreds of my sanity." Which is the rub – she has no clue how to balance all of this now nearly hopelessly entangled mess.

She doesn't want to leave him, but she doesn't think she can go back to just being his assistant either after having had this chance to spread her wings. They need to come to some sort of compromise. Something that puts her skills to proper use but doesn't require his complete surrender of his company.

Hell she never really WANTED that to begin with; especially not as what amounted to a bequeathment.

"Believe it or not, Potts, I wasn't planning on trying to talk you into going back to the way they were before...as either my P.A. OR the company's CEO." Tony's voice is gentle.

"You weren't?"

"No...though for the record you would have managed the switchover to CEO just fine if things had gone as I'd meant them to after your promotion."

She raises an eyebrow.

"Believe it or not, I had actually thought most of this out." Tony's grin is wry. "The Expo was meant to serve as a perfect transitional period for you to step in and arrange management in the ways you saw fit - you could have hired whatever other executive officers you thought that you were going to need without having to focus on new development projects while you did so. Unfortunately for both of us I never accounted for Vanko."

"Tony..." Pepper interrupts him, because while his explanation is both reassuring to her ego and if she's honest, a little shocking in its long sightedness, he's still largely missing her point. "You don't understand. Yes, I could have done the job you're describing. You won't get an argument from me there. But what I've decided is that I don't want to be CEO. It's not what I'm good at. The big picture, the innovations, the barely possible dreams for the future? That's you. It's always been you, not me. And in the end, THAT'S the kind of CEO Stark Industries NEEDS." She grins a little, "Frankly I just can't manage your brand of 'doing the impossible' genius lunacy."

"Thanks a lot..." he mutters.

"This time it's meant as a compliment, Tony."

He's not pacified, and Pepper starts to get an inkling of the deeper issues beneath the surface ones of willing inebriation and dime-a-dozen giggle girls. Or at least, she starts to understand that those issues exist and aren't just Tony being an airhead.

"Tell me why I'm wrong," she says softly. "Because clearly you think I am."

"You're giving me credit for things I really don't deserve. None of my foresight in running Stark Industries so far has been ME. The weapons making was largely at Obadiah's encouragement. Hell, even when I realized there were other roads we could take as a company I still just mostly borrowed someone else's idea on how to get it done. The Expo was Dad's dream. I was just the shop geek who was supposed to solve the puzzle that he left me."

"But that's it, Tony. You're a shop geek. That means you look at the current technology and you know how to improve it. It means you know what the generation of improvements after that needs to be. We're not talking about making things that go boom anymore, we're talking about arc reactors and cold fusion." Pepper sets aside her tea and takes both of his hands in hers. After holding on to the tea, his hands actually feel a little cold. "We're talking about the Expo, and it's purpose of advancing technology to improve life. To help people any way technology possibly can. And me? I'm still a little pissed that you upgraded me from my generation two BlackBerry. And that was years ago now.

"Look, I'm not saying that I can't handle the job of a corporate officer, just that the Executive office of this particular company is the wrong fit for me. But there are other offices that would fit me like a pair of Ferragamos. Ones that let me take care of the nitty-gritty, day to day, mundane details that you detest." Does he get it? They can work together as equals, each of them doing what they do best while allowing the other the freedom to best use their individual talents. "I'd make a kickass COO, Stark. I'm comfortable in the corporate trenches. That would free you up to be in the air as needed and in the shop, which face it, for all of our sakes is where you really need to be."

He looks a little dazed, as if this option hadn't even occurred to him. Though, since they have been doing the work of three people (four when they included Iron Man), perhaps it's slipped his mind that there are other corporate positions the Board has been after him to fill.

"I wouldn't have to go to meetings?"

She laughs. "Some. You'd have to make appearances occasionally. But you wouldn't have to make decisions about clean air initiatives, or departmental budgets, or regulatory boards, or anything like that. You can set the goals, and I'll do everything I can to see them met. Excluding any technical services." Her eyes twinkle. "Granted, to make it work you and I would have to commit to touching bases frequently. All your passion would in essence get focused through me."

"Mmm…you've sold me on the idea. It sounds absolutely filthy." Tony pulls her close. "Touching bases would be easier if you moved in with me."

"Ah yes, the elusive pleasures of _chez_ garage," Pepper sighs. "I want a real bed, Stark, not a mattress on the floor. And this is only until we can have someone sweep my apartment."

"I could haul out the old water bed from storage," he offers just a bit too innocently.

She makes a face. "They're cold, and you're already complaining that you wake up every time I move."

"What makes you think we'd spend that much time sleeping?" Tony slides his arms around her waist and leans back on the couch with her in his arms.

She snorts. "Well someone's feeling better." It's not entirely a frivolous comment, Pepper knows from the heat in her face that she's flushing. And that not all the warmth therein is caused by embarrassment - the hunger that rises every time they touch speaks well of what's likely to come when they finally actually consummate things.

God she's thinking seriously about Having Sex With Tony.

He shrugs under her. "It'll be fun finding out." His hands slip from her back to her hips, and then up her ribcage until they rest a scant few inches from her breasts. They stay there though, and he doesn't push for more; after a few seconds he slides his palms back down her body slowly, coming to a stop at her hips again.

"You should wear color more often," he murmurs, trying to distract her from the fact that he hasn't given her a straight answer about his state of health. Besides, the lavender brings out a golden glow in her hair, and it IS nice to see her in something other than black or grey.

"Noted. If you're seriously feeling better, then we need to hash out a couple of...things."

"Do we have to?" Tony groans and drops his head back onto the cushions. Then he searches behind him blindly for a pillow. Pepper tugs on the one pressing against her thigh and hands it to him. "Thanks." He tucks it behind his head and sighs deeply. "Okay, shoot, Potts." He's not sure what else she wants to talk about, now that they've settled the CEO thing - very tricky of her to use logic to hand his company back to him - but he's prepared for some sort of lecture involving Board members and stockholders and press conferences...

"And here I thought that was supposed to be your department. When will we no longer have to worry about palladium toxicity?"

He blinks at her owlishly. "Huh?"

"Protection, genius." She punches his shoulder gently "My patch can handle preventing pregnancy, yes, but I doubt it's up to guarding off heavy metal poisoning,"

"Uhhh... Call me genius again?" Yeah, she's trying to have a serious conversation, but he REALLY likes the warm, teasing tone in her voice when she calls him that.

"Seriously...when can I safely jump your bones, Stark? 'Cause fluorescents? Don't look all that good on me."

"Jump my bones?" He smirks a little at her choice of vernacular.

Her eyebrow raises, "What...you think you're the only one in this relationship allowed to talk dirty?"

Tony waggles his eyebrows. "Pepper, I have been begging you for years to talk dirty to me. Though if that's your definition of dirty, we need to further your education." He's getting a little distracted from the original query.

She leans forward to whisper, "I think I'll be doing the majority of the 'educating' Tony. My standards are high but I...praise...generously."

He whimpers a little, his fingers curling into her hips and holding her there. "Hey, Pep. This flight has another couple of hours left. Wanna -"

"I want to finish our original conversation," she murmurs before gently removing herself from his grasp. "Com'on, genius. Sit up and use your words."

"But but but..."

"You sound like a broken motor," she informs him amusedly

"Two more days of chlorophyll shakes," he blurts out. "And then Jarvis says I'm safe for general consumption -" She raises an eyebrow at his word choice. "Oh you know what I mean!" He reaches for her again, eager to resume their cozy position, but Pepper stiff-arms him, her palms landing squarely on his chest. If he were another man, or she were actively resisting, this action might have stopped him. However, he is Tony Stark, and Tony Stark is not easily put off. Tony presses back against her hands, eventually caging her against the couch as he crouches over her prone body. "Much better," he approves. "Now…we might have to wait two days before we try any bareback riding –"

"Charming," Pepper comments, though there's laughter in her eyes.

" – but there is a reason condoms were invented, Potts. And as hope springs eternal, the ones at my house are actually within their expiration dates."

"Be still my beating heart." She chews on her lower lip a moment. "It's been...awhile for me, Tony."

"Ten months, I know..."

"Try closer to two and a half years if we're not talking about me going solo."

"Wow. Really? No WONDER you're always so cranky."

She pinches his right side hard in retaliation. "Not that I can't hold my own, mind you," she tells him after he finishes yelping. "But I want you to keep in mind that I'm a person and not a porn star, okay?"

"Pepper...you are the realist person I know." Tony's lips quirk as he repeats the line Fury had given him just a couple of days ago. And sure, Fury was "real" in a street-smart kind of way, as in he would always level with you and saw no reason to use exaggeration to get a point across. But Pepper was real in the sense that she was GENUINE, across the board, honest to goodness, 100% grade A Pepper Potts.

The shy grin that spreads across Pepper's face is entirely endearing, as is the accompanying blush. It just figures that she can sit and talk about the logistics of starting a sexual relationship with the utmost propriety, and yet honest praise makes her self-conscious.

"Still…it's been a long time for both of us," Tony murmurs, now distracted by the thought of chasing her spreading blush with his lips. "Maybe we should practice some of the basics just to make sure we don't need private tutoring or something." As is so often the case for him, thought becomes action without any conscious decision.

She snorts softly tilting her head to give him better access. "We may need to feel our way through at the beginning..."

"I've always maintained the best method of learning is a hands on approach." Her hands slide around to his shoulders, and Tony lowers his weight onto his forearms.

For the record, Pepper's height is a huge asset right now; her body aligns almost perfectly with his own from noses to toes, and several VERY interesting spots in between. Pepper presses her hips up against his, rocking a little experimentally. His body comes to immediate attention. God, it feels like even his HAIR stands up straight.

He abandons the flush on her neck for her lips, one hand cupping the back of her head so he can control the angle - and therefore the depth - of the kiss.

The dance of their tongues is wonderfully filthy and lazy.

It's not until he becomes aware of Pepper's soft, rhythmic moans that Tony becomes aware that he's carried this a bit farther than he'd originally intended. As in, their bodies are rocking together, he's got her shirt pulled out of her waistband, and her fingers are flirting with the belt loops of his jeans.

It's crazy. He knows it is. Not that he's capable of taking Pepper right here. That part's par for the course. What's crazy is that he really wants to take Pepper home and romance her. He willing – and pretty eager – to romance Pepper. Woo her. Take his time and really wow her.

The mile high club can wait for another week or so.

It's hard – mainly because Pepper isn't exactly being cooperative – but Tony manages to finally break the kiss. He's more breathless than he'd like and his heart is doing a pitter-patter rhythm that he usually associates with having to change out one of his reactor cores. However, the flood of hormones still surging through his body is reassuring; this is all Pepper.

"Tony?" Pepper mumbles the word against his cheek. There's a wealth of meaning in the two syllables, but mainly Tony thinks she sounds uncertain. Perhaps even vulnerable. "Something wrong?" she murmurs softly. "I mean, we can..."

"I know..." He cuts her off gently. "But we don't know how long we have before someone needs one or both of us and comes knocking." He cups her cheek a moment, "Besides, in my experience, unexpected turbulence is NOBODY'S friend." He waggles his eyebrows; Pepper smiles a little.

His hand plays with one long strand hair. "We've got plenty of time to do this right, don't we?"

Pepper relaxes a little, her hands sliding up his body slowly to rest on his chest. "Were we doing it wrong? I really must be out of practice." The words are mainly teasing, not challenging his assertion that they almost owe it to themselves to take their time in this.

He waggles his brows again. "No, but I have evil, evil plan for you, me and my basement.

She laughs as she gently pushes him away. "When do you not?"

Pepper carefully extracts herself from under him, her hands automatically smoothing down her hair and clothes. "In that case, Mr Stark, I believe our lunch today is fresh clam chowder from that diner in Penn Plaza that you enjoy." It'd better be, because that's what she'd arranged for, trying to get something of substance into him.

"I'm drooling already." Tony smacks his lips hungrily.

"There may also be sweet potato fries..." Pepper continues. "If you're good."

"Define 'good.'" Tony shoots back a little suspiciously.

"That you're suspicious means you already know my definition." Honestly, Pepper just hopes that if she can get him to eat a decent meal, he'll be content to conk out later on his full stomach. Neither of them will be taking advantage of anything if he falls asleep before the sun goes down.

"You're trying to lure me into unconsciousness again, aren't you?" It's not really a question.

Pepper's lips curl into the little Mona Lisa smirk that she's so good at wearing as she hits the call button on a nearby console. "You are entertaining a guest tonight, Mr. Stark, and it'd be rude to fall asleep half way through."

"Valid point." He tilts his head. "You don't have any idea what its gonna cost me to get a Tempur-Pedic and frame delivered to the mansion by the time we arrive do you?

"It's not a good sign that you're asking me to start providing this early in the game, Mr. Stark." Still, Pepper's already gotten her phone out and is tapping away at it as they're ushered to seats at the table. She's done before the big, steaming sourdough bread bowls are set in front of them. She's only been away from her PA job for a week, hasn't deleted any of her contacts, and once upon a time she'd needed to replace the bed in his guest room with relative frequency.

"I didn't say I couldn't DO it, I merely asked for wise counsel. Which last I checked, a good manager should do." He informs her, eyes crinkling at the corners.

Pepper snorts then pours a more than adequate amount of oyster crackers into her bowl and stirs everything around.

"We should grab new sheets as well…" Tony continues, "I wonder if they carry Egyptian Cotton in a light jewel blue..." She raises an eyebrow but concentrates on her meal. "Nah...probably better to paint the walls of at least one room in that color instead. Well that or use it as a background to either a fountain or terrarium or something."

"No snakes or spiders." Pepper tells him automatically.

Tony's raises an eyebrow. "Not a fan of the creepy crawlies, Ms. Potts?"

"Ew, ew, ew." She takes a bite. "Plants might be okay though. Bonsai's or something else that would flow with the curves of the house..."

"Yeeaahhh." Tony brightens at the suggestion. "Bonsai are cool. God I miss Osaka this time of year."

"So do I." She admits taking another bite of soup. "Nobody on earth makes better Yaksoba than that local place on the south side."

"You mean… Wait. South Side? We've never been to Osaka's South Side."

Pepper's lips quirk a little. "Incorrect Stark, YOU haven't."

"Oh. No. I'VE definitely been there. Possibly been kicked out of there. I've just never been there with you. There was never time for you to do so, Potts, I mean unless you snuck out some night after I was asleep."

She snorts. "SNUCK out? Do I LOOK seventeen to you?" She laughs as he makes a face, Historically you've always claimed that my company puts a 'cramp' in your night life, that typically leaves me with plenty of time to strike out on my own. Particularly when I'm already familiar with an area." Pepper daintily tears off a piece of her bread bowl and dips it in her soup.

"You're 'familar' with Osaka's southside." His eyes a narrow a little at the information. "How exactly do you define familar?"

"I lived there almost nine months," Pepper grins then bows in what Tony recognizes as a classic geisha pose.

"No fucking way. College?"

"Yup, junior year." Plus a long summer break. I figured the cultural experience would help improve my poise and improve my modeling skills. Tokyo and Kyoto may be regarded as the more popular fashion capitals, but Osaka has a fairly well developed underground design hive, and with my coloring, they practically ate me up with a spoon...which is apropos, considering the city's reputation for love of food."

"YOU modeled in Japan." Tony's studying her opened mouth.

"Yup. Though you were right...never Tokyo." Pepper's face eyes are definitely laughing. "You know, if you're going to sit around with your mouth open, you should at least try to eat some of your chowder, or I'm going to eat all the sweet potato fries."

"I did not know this. How in HELL did I not know this?" He demands before taking another spoonful of soup.

She laughs, "What can I say Stark - that's what you get for hiring a 'lunatic' with can of Pepperspray on sight. Have you honestly NEVER read my background check or hiring information."

"That would be ILLEGAL, Potts," he informs her with a twinkle in his eye.

"As if that's ever stopped you, Mr. 'I thought I was ogling her.'" Pepper shrugs. "Besides, Jarvis and I have an agreement about his turning up search results that might adversely effect my ability to do my job."

"Traitor," Tony pronounces. "It's clearly time to have a man to AI talk with him."

"Jarvis was looking out for your best interests, which is one of his main functions. And as I was saying, I loved Japan. The mountains, the culture... the food." She sighs in culinary ecstasy.

"I have the sudden urge for sushi," Tony says, leaning heavily onto the table, his body angled towards her and his voice dropping into the intimate register that she'd often heard but hadn't really had directed in her direction.

"Then I'll have to stop for the kit I keep at home so we can eventually make some..." And if he's talking remodeling and truly likes Bonsai, she might also pick up her books on Japanese architecture and design.

"Pepper, could you at least attempt not to be practical when I'm trying to seduce you?"

She blinks then scowls a little. "I take it then you DON'T want me to hand feed the you the resulting sushi in my green silk kimono robe?"

"Uhhhh..." Tony's caught by that one. The image is sexy, but the handing...

"OR maybe I should just let you eat it off my belly?" She leans back in her chair, the picture of demureness.

"Much better." Tony turns part of his attention back to his meal. The rest of his attention turns to other sexy food.

Fondue. Uses skewers sometimes. So no transfer.

And chocolate fondue. Pepper likes chocolate.

He idly takes his last bite of chowder before carefully licking clean the bowl of his spoon.

Pepper fights back a groan at the sight.

"Did you grab my work pad before we -" Pepper digs the requested tech out of her nearby briefcase and hands it over. "Thanks," he replies distantly, already making plans. With the pad he can uplink with Jarvis and get started on OTHER plans for tonight...

Not to mention start a search for Virginia Potts and her erstwhile modeling career now that it will no longer adversely effect their working relationship.


	6. Chapter 6

"Holy..."

Stepping into the entry of Pepper's living room is like stepping into a bookshelved aquarium.

There's a large, freestanding curio cabinet - or that's the best word Tony can find - the top shelf of which is filled with some kind of lacquered vases in granny smith green and a more natural golden color. The bottom shelf is filled with over-sized books of the coffee table persuasion. Books of photography and design, travel and history. In between the two levels is what has to be at least a 150 gallon fish tank.

"Hey troops," Pepper murmurs as she approaches her piscine roommates affectionately, stepping out of her heels. "Sorry I was gone so long. Did Thomas remember to feed you while I was away? Got any good gossip for me?" The fish say nothing, as fish are apt to do, though a few do come nearer to investigate when she taps the wall of the tank very gently.

"Boys, meet Tony. Tony, meet the boys," Pepper says, looking back over her shoulder at her (soon to be?) lover as Happy and Natalie follow him into her apartment. Pepper had protested the necessity of having Natalie along, but then HAPPY had agreed that Natalie was who he'd choose to have at his back if needed, and Pepper hadn't figured out how to argue politely with that.

And then Tony had given her a LOOK, and that had settled matters.

"Wow, Pepper. Looks like you've got your own harem here." Tony steps up to the aquarium and peers inside curiously.

"Pretty much. I feed them well, and in exchange they get to swim around all day and look pretty." She gently intercepts a finger he's about to poke into the top of the tank. "Uh-uh...not unless you wash your hands first, Tony."

"That's my line," he pouts. "That speckled guy seems pretty friendly. I just wanted to give him a hello pat."

"'That guy' is a shark, Tony. If you have a problem with people handing you things, imagine the problem you'll have when you're short the tip of a finger."

Natasha snorts as Tony's hand pulls back abruptly.

"Hey, Natashalie. Found anything yet?" He doesn't bother waiting for an answer. "So am I allowed to at least feed them or something?"

"They can have few pinches from the fish food on top. Just DON'T over do it."

"Anything I can help you with, Ms. Potts?" Happy asks Pepper quietly.

"What constitutes a pinch?" Tony inquires before Pepper can reply.

"You could grab any fresh fruit or vegetables that are still in my fridge, Happy. No sense in wasting them." Pepper quickly gathers up some files and portfolios from the table in front of her sofa before coming back to demonstrate the proper amount to Tony. They both watch as the fish dive after the treat eagerly.

"Want to help me pack up in the bedroom?" She makes the invitation quietly, in part out of respect for the two others in the room. While she knows they both know she and Tony are an item, she sees no reason to be obnoxious about the details concerning it.

"I hope that was a rhetorical question," Tony says as he discards the small jar of food and follows almost right on her heels.

Pepper's room is at the far end of the living room, concealed between two opaque glass and wood doors. The pattern etched into the panes is distinctly Asian, as is the changing screen that sits to one side of the bed and yet there's a modern, minimalistic edge to all of it. Clean lines, walls the color of canvas allowing a few important pieces to really catch the eye. It's...it's actually something that kind of reminds him of his own house, just on a smaller scale.

He catches sight of another tank, this a third the size of the former, sitting to the side of the bed against the wall.

"Wow. You really do like fish." Tony rubs the back of his neck and Pepper can hear that certain tone of bravado in his voice that means he's acting the big man but is attempting to actually deflect attention. "Not that I don't like it. I mean, I never had pets as a kid..." Tony's rushed explanation comes to a quick halt. "You said something about clothes?"

"Yeah." She smiles, hoping the gesture will soothe whatever has him agitated as she sets the things she's gathered from the bathroom on the bed. "Aquariums are just a hobby really, still I've spent the better part of the last two years gradually filling these tanks, so I guess I do take a lot of pride in them."

"Really. Two years? That's..." He clears his throat. "I didn't even know that fish lived that long. Not to mention, that tank out there looks custom and I didn't even know you LIKED fish."

Pepper actually blushes. "Tony...between my work hours and my shoe collection, you already thought I was obsessive. I didn't think it was in my best interests to prove for a fact that I am. It's actually one of the reasons I'm so cautious."

He nods, lips quirking. "Potts, in case it escaped your notice, I'm the last person who has any right to gripe about a compulsive personality."

"True," she murmurs agreeably, her voice warm and tinged with laughter.

They stand there, somewhat awkwardly, staring at each other as they try to feel their way through the new dynamics of their relationship. "You really DO love Osaka." Tony finally gestures at the walls around them. "I assume most of the pictographs on the walls are Japanese?"

She nods, pointing to several and translating their meaning. "Humor. Friendship. Perspective. Humility. Patience." She shrugs a little at his curious look. "Just things I want to remember to always carry with me." When he continues looking at her, she shrugs again and straightens her shoulders, her attitude becoming a little more brisk. "I know that there's been a fad for all things Asian inspired for a good hundred years now, but I'm NOT someone who's deluded themselves into thinking they're Japanese just because they can decode a few characters -"

He kisses her to stem the flow of words. He hadn't meant for his silence to be in any way judging; it was just that he was still getting used to really seeing Pepper and the sight of her always amazed him.

"You carry the places you've been with you," he finally murmurs when the kiss comes to a natural end. "Wall art is a hell of a lot more attractive than the latest and greatest in cybernetic implants."

She flushes, then chooses to just nod her head. "I hadn't really looked at it quite that way, but yes."

He continues to look around. "One thing is for certain. You DEFINITELY need to help redecorate my place. Our styles seem to blend nicely and I outright COVET your jelly fish."

"You do have the necessary plumbing installed for a new water feature," she murmurs. "However, I don't think my aquariums are the only thing you're going to covet." With that promise, she pulls him over to the wooden-framed frosted glass doors that hide her closet from view.

"Holy..." Tony blinks at the custom built shoe racks, hanger bars and other shelving.

It's Pepper's turn to grin as he pivots in a slow circle, absorbing what he's seeing. The work clothing on the right is familiar, as are some of the formal dresses he's seen her in for charity or business galas. But the whole left side of the closet is distinctly, WONDERFULLY new.

"Pepper..." Tony pulls on a shirt that barely has enough fabric to deserve the title; the neckline is a suicide dive down to a complicated waistband that ruches and tucks in complicated folds. And it's SOFT, addictively so.

The semi-pained tone in his voice makes Pepper smile. She might not have the kind of cleavage his Maxim models have made him accustomed to, but from her point of view, that only makes it more comfortable for her to ditch her bra when she feels like it.

"I'll probably need some more casual clothing if I'm going to be spending the next few days in a garage," she tells him solemnly.

"THIS is your version of CASUAL?" he murmurs disbelievingly.

Her lips quirk. "Some if it, yes. The rest I used to use for work or for clubbing."

Tony next pulls out a blue and white dress with a lattice-work back. "How long are you going to make me wait before we can go out clubbing together?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Do I really need to answer that, Stark? Right now life is complicated enough ALREADY. Bring it up in another six months."

She's right. Regretfully. "Can I at least convince you to maybe model some of these in private?"

"Maybe. Depends on how well you beg," she murmurs near his ear before she reaches for that top he'd been admiring earlier. "I'm going to go finish packing what I need from the bathroom. Why don't you pick out a dress for me to wear for our date tonight?"

"Are we eating out or eating in?" He asks the question just a little TOO innocently.

"I guess that'll depend on the dress you choose." Her fingers trail across his shoulders as she leaves.

He shivers pleasantly, then moves to the other racks in order to consider his options fully. It takes awhile but he finally finds one to suit; an ombre knit halter dress with a wrap behind neck strap in a shimmery jewel blue.

Apparently they're eating in tonight.

Tony looks around and spots a garment bag hanging near the doors. He puts the dress inside and even considers adding a few dresses from the more businesslike side of the closet, but Pepper's probably the kind of woman who plans out what she's going to wear to work weeks in advance. Left to his own devices, Tony starts poking around the closed doors and drawers of the closet, looking to see if he can prove that theorem.

He finds suits in the first cubby and one piece dresses in the second. There are sweaters and other layering for warmth garments in the third. The open bar between the second and third storage cupboard contains a mix of all of the above - perhaps set aside for the next week or so with variety to account for issues with the weather. In the fourth cubby he finds workout and other lounging style clothing. Including incidentally, a pair of HIS missing favorite sweats.

He pulls them out, uncertain if he feels insulted that she's stealing his good sweats after he's put in the hard work of breaking them in, or turned on by the mental image of her actually wearing them. Undecided, he cautiously lifts them to his face and breathes deeply.

Mmm...Pepper...who'd clearly not washed them the last time she'd worn them.

'She can keep these ones,' he decides, putting the sweats back and moving on to a low set of drawers. He hasn't seen any jewelry yet, and though Pepper doesn't really wear much on a daily basis, he knows she OWNS some. He pulls one drawer open, expecting to see neatly laid out necklaces.

Instead he finds little piles of silk, satin, and lace, in hues ranging from deep burgundy red, to fiery orange, to a lemon yellow. He lets out a low groan. Pulls open the drawer right below it to yield shades from the palest green to the royalist purple. The third drawer is monochromatic, the forth a collection of mixed prints, the fifth marked by animal prints.

The next cupboard over yields a collection of nightwear she obviously hadn't wanted to fold.

"Pepper," he calls out softly. "How did I NOT know you have a MASSIVE lingerie collection?"

"Because I always refused to tell you when you asked." Pepper steps back into the closet, with one eyebrow raised. "I thought you were choosing a dress, not conducting a panty raid."

"It's COLOR CODED." He stresses this, as if it has something to do with the quantity of the collection

"I told you I could be obsessive," Pepper says a little defensively. "Besides. I dislike wasting time in the morning looking for what I want. And variety ensures I can always dress to my mood."

"Lingerie has a MOOD?" Tony raises an eyebrow.

"You're claiming to be surprised by THAT?" she asks with a tilt of her head.

"You're making that up," Tony accuses.

Pepper raises a single brow, then walks towards the open drawers. "Friday night PMS-ing," she says, holding up a pair of worn cotton briefs that Tony hadn't even noticed in among the rest. "Blind date gear." Bikini briefs with bumble bees. "Cute, but nothing you'd want anyone to write home about. And these..." She pulls out a lacy thong in an electric blue, "are the sort of thing that might go with that dress I see hanging over by the door."

Tony swallows. HARD. "Ummm...doubt retracted?"

"That's what I thought." Pepper puts the items back where they belong before she pulls out a small suitcase and starts packing less inflammatory items - including the sweats he'd found, though she tries to smuggle them in.

"So what are you wearing right now?" Tony crosses his arms over his chest and leans against one wall so he'll be out of the way as she packs.

"Black lace bra. Sheer jewel green thong," she answers back without as much as blinking.

He makes a deep, choked noise in the back of his throat before he clears it loudly. "So, I don't see any jewelry in here."

"That's more or less the point," Pepper murmurs. "There's recessed storage alongside the mirror." She points towards the floor to ceiling mirror that takes up part of one wall.

"Wow…sneaky security. Have you been robbed before?"

"Not here, but at the place before here I did have a break in." Her lips pull back, bearing teeth, "They walked off with half my Gucci collection."

He frowns deeply, "Why didn't you say something -"

"It was before we met, Tony. Right before I was hired by the accounting department, in fact. I started saving right then for rent on a better place, and then YOU hired me..." She waves a hand around her. "I've been living here almost ever since. It took me a few weeks to find a place that called to me." Because Pepper, while capable of living like a nomad as evidenced by her modeling days, needed to at least know that somewhere she had a home base. Needed to know she had some place to go home to whenever the time came for it.

He nods. "Do you still rent?" he asks in a tone he hopes sounds idle. If she owns, he imagines it's going to he harder to get her out of the place, and he already anticipates quite the negotiation to get her to agree to any sort of cohabitation. But he's also trying to figure out how exactly she spends her money. Beyond her shoes and his more recent discoveries about the fish and the lingerie, Tony really has no idea how Pepper handles her finances.

Pepper shakes her head. "No. I put a down payment on the place six years ago. Did some extensive remodeling, put in the sky lights, the tanks - something not allowed in the original lease, at least not at the scale I wanted them. I did agree to allow the building's management group to put in the first offer on the place if I ever decided to move in exchange for selling to me only slightly above the apartment's market value. Considering the improvements I've made, they'll easily be able to charge twice as much in rent as I was paying."

She sighs, softly. "I should probably think about giving them a call. I'm gonna need a bigger space for entertaining in the near future..."

"Actually, as we are sharing management duties now, my place would suit for entertaining. In fact, looking at it in that light, it could even be said that the mansion is 'OURS' -"

"We haven't nearly had all the discussions we're GOING to have before I'll agree to move in with you," Pepper warns him, cutting off his pitch before it can gather steam.

Tony opens his mouth to protest, but then sighs and just nods silently.

Pepper raises an eyebrow. She'd expected him to put up more of a fight. "Really? That's it? No argument?" she asks as she starts picking a couple of suits off their hangers.

He shrugs. "If you've got a plan for conversations, that means you've projected this relationship far enough into the future for us to have them. That's something at least. Besides," he continues, "When it comes to some topics, it's best to just rip the band aid off cleanly."

It's an interesting analogy, and one that doesn't escape Pepper's notice. Tony Stark rarely acknowledges emotion whether it's his or anyone elses'. That he's doing so now - however circumspectly - speaks volumes of how much he's maturing in the face of his own mortality.

Pepper finishes packing quickly, pretending she doesn't notice Tony's interest as she picks several lacy, satiny, silky bundles out of her vast amounts of lingerie. Well, almost pretends. She can't quite keep herself from asking, "Tiger or leopard?" in an innocent voice as she hesitates over the drawer of patterned material.

"Umm both? I'm an equal opportunist?"

Pepper snorts, but still picks up two bundles of fabric small enough to fit inside her fist and includes them in her bag. "Let me grab some shoes, and I'll be ready."

Tony waits till she does so, then lifts the sealed bag from the bed effortlessly. "Did you want anything from any of the other rooms before we leave?"

"Well...I have my briefcase," Pepper says, starting to tick items off on her fingers. "My computer was with me as well. Cell phone, purse, and keys accounted for. Makeup and hygiene stuff packed. Can't really think of anything else I would need."

"Books? CD's? Stuff for hanging and you know...relaxing? I mean, I kind of expect that while you're my guest you'll want to do more than just work, work and sleep."

"Umm...Jarvis has my playlists, and I keep the e-reader you gave me in my office. TV and movies won't be an issue. You've got the gym and the pool… I suppose if I get bored, I can buy some magazines when I get groceries." She shrugs. "Besides, I expect the next few days to be busy enough that I won't have a whole lot of time that will actually be 'free.'"

He frowns a little at this announcement, but nods his head acceptingly.

She makes another face at him. "Again? Nothing to say? Not one comment about how you're going to be keeping me busy? I expected more out of you, Stark."

He smirks, "Why SHOULD I say it, Potts, when you're so good at thinking it all by yourself? I've obviously got you well trained."

Pepper crosses her arms over her chest, waits until his eyes pop back up from glancing at her breasts, and gives him a rather toothy grin. "You were saying something about training?"

His eyes spark challenge. "Shameless vixen. Is this REALLY the place you want to start this particular conversation?"

There is a bed nearby, and two people waiting for them in the living room. Perhaps this isn't the best time to meet his wager and up the ante. So rather than answering - which would likely get her in trouble because she LIKES going up against him - Pepper turns and picks up her garment bag.

"That will be all, Mr. Stark." She claims his part of their familiar exchange for her own, claiming the dominant position for the few hours she still outranks him in the eyes of the company.

Tony's lips quirk as he uses a dip of his hand to motion her through the door back into the living room.

000ooo000ooo000

Pepper, trying not to look at the devastation around her as they come through the front door, heads straight for the stairs down to the garage. She almost makes it there before Tony gets in her path and stays there.

"What -" She tries to step around him, but he matches the move with the kind of twinkle in his eye that makes her highly suspicious. "Tony, what are you doing?"

"I need to do some tidying up downstairs before you can come join me. You know – pick up the trash and see if I can get Dummy and Butterfingers to be of ACTUAL use while I whip up some privacy screens. I'm sure you're dying to get one last sit rep before I...hmmm...occupy you for the rest of the evening. So you go do that, and I'll let you know when you should start getting ready for dinner." Tony grins at her as he tries to turn her back towards one of the more intact wings of the house.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Pepper protests, trying to evade his hands. "Are you up for that, Tony? Doesn't it make more sense to stay in one of the bedrooms? Besides, you keep talking about this particle accelerator and I'd kind of like to SEE it…"

"The upstairs is much better than it was before, but that doesn't mean its sealed to all weather, especially at night. Just give me a couple of hours, Pep, and then you can see."

Tony has other reasons for wanting to sleep with Pepper in his garage besides the issues of safety and a just fear of exposure to the elements. Sleeping with her in a guest room was too close to his previous habits, whether he admitted it himself or not. The garage, for all it's lack of creature comforts – at the moment at least – is PERSONAL. Always has been. Sharing it with her seemed fitting.

He puts on his best puppy dog face. "Come on, Pepper. Don't you trust me?"

Pepper doesn't answer. She does LOOK at him as if she's trying to puzzle his behavior out. "Fine," she finally agrees. "I guess I can hang out up here awhile…"

Tony's smile is wide. "Great. The power still works in most of the bedrooms and I...er… restocked the kitchen fridge while we were on the jet as well."

"You did?" she asks, a little afraid. Tony's version of 'stocking' could be a little bizarre when it came to filling his pantry.

"Hey, I'll have you know that you're not the only one capable of using the internet, Missy."

"Actually, I do my shopping in person." Pepper still looks like she doesn't know what to think. "And who in hell are you calling Missy? Where do you want me to order dinner from by the way?"

"Umm...that should be mostly covered by what's in the fridge, I think. If not..." He shrugs. "I'm not that demanding, Potts. Just surprise me."

"I can think of a few stories that would contest that statement." Pepper wonders about his appetite, if the reason he's not voicing an opinion on dinner. "Three hours, you said?"

"Yup. I'll even send the 'bots up to help carry the food down." Tony grins and gently pushes her towards the inside of the house. "Now off with you. Leave a man to his scheming."

"That's what I'm AFRAID of…" Pepper goes, albeit shaking her head.

"Jarvis?" Tony asks softly once she's out of sight.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Unless she specifically asks for otherwise, put on what you'd observed to be Pepper's most relaxing set of audiotracks. I would in no way object if you manage to lure her into a nap."

"Affirmative, Sir."

"She also gets cold faster than me. Please make a note to maintain the temperature settings as best as you can."

"Affirmative, Sir."

Tony could almost swear the damned AI sounds...amused? "Look. Just take care of it, and alert me if anything breaches the security perimeter around the house." Tony was reasonably certain that no one would try anything in daylight, but if anyone did get into the house, he wanted Pepper safely locked down until he could take care of it. "Did you get those parts machined?" he asked, to divert whatever other smart remarks the computer was going to make.

"I did, Sir. Dummy and Butterfingers have already put the temporary flooring panels in place in the section that you specified."

"Good. Now go online and get me a wide variety of loadable Japanese and modern art images." Now that he's seen her place, Tony knows what kind of décor will probably help put her at ease while she's here. "Oh...and see if you can find any algorithms for decent holographic fish tanks."

"Shall I hack into the Pixar databases, sir?" Jarvis question was desert dry.

"No, smart ass, just find me some fish." Tony shakes his head, wonders once again why he gave his AI free license to get lippy, and enters the garage.

The flooring is exactly where he specified, and there's a pile of tall metal brackets and a stack of smart glass panels waiting to be placed along the boundaries. Out of habit, Tony strips down to his t-shirt, throwing his jacket to the side and toeing off his shoes. "All right, boys. Let's get to work." He slips into the tasks at hand with the ease of long habit, systematically erecting the structure he'd been building in his mind.

Two hours later several of the cars have been moved out of their typical position, and the last sections of walls are in place. The basement's existing kitchenette and 'lounge area' with it's couch and coffee table double the space in size and Tony's resurrected a comfortable armchair from out of sub basement storage. A mattress and bedframe are set up in the largest of the new smart glass partitions with a small chest of drawers working as both storage and as a makeshift nightstand; a second smaller room houses what Tony hopes Pepper will be content to use as a temporary spot for her laptop and other work things.

He doesn't have the time or resources to do anything with the small bathroom - and the last time he attempted to do his own plumbing, he managed to flood the kitchen before he got it stopped - but he figures this will do for now.

Now to just fine tune the ambience…

"Okay, Jarvis. Let's see what you've come up with." He plops into a chair and quickly loses himself in programming. Jarvis is really the one that does all the animation, but Tony's the one with a human eye and he can tell when the math of how a fish SHOULD move is getting in the way of how it looks.

"Perfect," he declares half an hour later, sitting back to view the resulting tableau with admittedly smug eyes. All he needs to do now is send Dummy upstairs for a set of fresh linens for the bed.

Hmm...and maybe he should also get changed...clean up and shave. If Potts is going to wear that dress, his jeans really aren't going to cut it.

He may not have said it outright but this is damn well their first 'date.'

00oo00oo00oo00

When Pepper awakes, it's to momentary confusion. It's darker than it was before, and she realizes the sun is starting to set. It also takes her a moment to realize WHY she's in fact awake.

"Ms Potts, I apologize for the necessity of waking you. Mr. Stark asked me to inform you that if you wish to change before dinner, this would be the optimum time. I calculate that he will be finish his own various ablutions in another 36 minutes."

"Ablutions?" Pepper raises an eyebrow at the choice of words as she pushes aside the light afghan she'd bought years ago to keep at the house. Tony's always been a touch oblivious to temperature, and she'd always found it ridiculous to raise the temperature of whichever room she happened to be in by just a degree or two when a blanket or sweater would accomplish the same task without making the mansion any more of an energy hog than it already was.

"Shower…shave…all other appropriate duties of maintaining one's toilet."

Tony is showering and changing? To have dinner in the basement?

A smile curves up her lips. "God. Please tell me he doesn't have violinists or flowers down there."

"Negative. However, he does have Butterfingers looking for emergency candles. I am trying to convince him that the idea was unwise unless he intends to send Dummy upstairs for the night."

Privately, Pepper thinks that might not be a bad idea, candles or no. It's not as if the 'bots actually make her shy. In fact, they've always kind of reminded her of a Great Dane she'd once known; big, friendly, with absolutely no concept that it wasn't a lap dog. Tony's 'bots have the same kind of…friendly curiosity. She can just see them gathered around her and Tony, "heads" cocked to the side as they try to figure out what their humans are up to now.

And yet, being robots, she feels silly asking Tony to send them into sleep mode. Yes, they're somewhat anthropomorphic, but it's not as if they're conscious exactly. Pepper supposes it's a tribute to Tony's skills as an engineer and software designer that they're close enough to it to make her twitchy.

Pepper carefully folds up the blanket and puts it back on the closet shelf in "her" room, the small bedroom on the first floor that she used any time she needed to stay over or didn't have time to change at home before any of the many events she accompanied Tony to. Until now – with her suitcase downstairs and her dress for the evening hanging in the closet in front of her – that blanket had been her only truly personal touch in the entire house, something in no way related to Stark Industries or meeting Tony's needs. Not that Tony hasn't made offers before to give her all the space she wants and the freedom to do whatever she wants with it. He's even broached the subject of cohabitation before, though always for what she's assumed have been selfish or capricious reasons of his own.

In the past, she's turned down his offers because she KNOWS he's often viewed her as an extension of himself, and he'd never shown that he placed his own privacy at the top of his list of priorities. So it had been logical to believe that if he didn't value privacy and he viewed her as an extension of him, then her privacy wouldn't have registered with him at all.

Of course, right now their main struggle – what she believes is their main struggle – is dealing with the recent polemic shift to the opposite end of the privacy spectrum. Or Pepper's choosing to believe it's a recent shift. If all she and Tony have between them is surface honesty after ten years of living in each other's pockets, then she's fool to be standing here, fingering the soft folds of the sapphire blue dress hanging by itself in her closet. If all they have is surface honesty then she's in love with a man who doesn't exist and has never existed and that rooftop kiss was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.

As she carefully lifts the hanger free of the rack and carries it into the bathroom with her, Pepper wonders if Tony will ever realize what a huge leap of faith tonight is for her – whether they have sex or not. Chances are that he won't…not unless she tells him.

If he's the man she believes he's becoming, chances are she'll clue him in some day.

000ooo000ooo000


	7. Chapter 7

Pepper's uncertain which is more amazing, that Tony has realized decades of scientific blueballs through the creation of a working cold fusion device or that he didn't finish what he'd started on his birthday and reduce the house to a smoking crater in the Malibu cliffside. Looking at the circular device, propped as it is on filing cabinets and motorcycle seats and stacks of books, Pepper thinks that it's probably best to NEVER mention this to the Board of Directors. The last thing they need is a bunch of doomsday prophesiers picketing the front gates while Tony tinkers with his own miniature CERN model.

Tony had taken her silence pretty well at first, but she's aware that he's growing just a tad withdrawn at her continued reluctance to speak. However, he's well and truly struck her completely speechless, something that hasn't happened very often in their long association, at least not past that first year. If she thought she could control herself, she'd praise his ingenuity and leave it at that, because this really IS beyond genius. But she's also wavering between berating him for his carelessness – the chemical closet is sliced neatly in half and there are SCORCH MARKS on the wall above it.

Standing here is like coming back down the basement and finding him laid out on a chair and expecting her to perform something very much like heart surgery based solely on the fact that her hands are small. Standing here is a reminder that as unreal as their lives have gotten in the last year – in less than a year – that it's still just potentially the tip of the iceberg.

She's his anchor to the real world, and Pepper has always taken that responsibility seriously, but this is…

"This is…something else," she finally murmurs.

Tony cocks his head, eyes a little…shrouded. "That almost sounds like a bad thing."

That's a PERFECT observation, since Pepper hasn't actually decided if it's a good or bad thing yet, but she doesn't know how to admit it without sparking an avalanche that will turn the evening into a disaster. So she shakes her head and restates the truth in a way he'll be more open to hearing, as she's been doing for years. "Just…complicated. It's a lot to absorb at once."

"I guess I can sympathize with that." Tony reminds himself not everyone is as comfortable with being as casual with the laws of physics as he is, and that it's been a long week, and to not hope that a kiss – okay, a couple of kisses – and a tentative understanding might make her a little more open to the concept of fawning adoration.

"I can't believe you assembled this all in twenty-four hours," she finally murmurs.

He snorts. "What can I say? SHIELD essentially saw fit to 'ground' me here in the basement until I'd learned my lesson -"

"GROUND YOU?" Okay, so it's not as if Pepper hasn't had the exact same urge in the past, but that's different. And the difference is that as far as she's concerned, she's the only one who's allowed to bully Tony into anything.

"Complete with skulking agent who tried to look scary while threatening to beat on my ass." Her reaction breathes some new life into Tony so that he almost sounds cheerful as he says it. The sparkle in her eyes is the dangerous kind, and for once he's not on the receiving end.

He only hopes he gets to watch whenever she decides to let Fury have a piece of her mind.

Pepper shakes her head, muttering a whole lot of stuff under his breath that he pretends not to hear. She looks around the garage one last time, as if to reassure herself that it's mostly in one piece, then her eyes focus on the rooms he's set up for them.

"So, are you going to show me around?"

There's honest interest in her voice now which helps to soothe over his disappointment in her reaction to the generator a little more. Clearly there ARE things he can do that she doesn't disapprove of outright.

"In a bit," he replies as he takes her hand and leads her over to the kitchen area. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Shop assembly always leaves me starving."

She nods, as the mere mention of food is enough to set her stomach rumbling, then she frowns a little. "Crap, I was supposed to pick out something from the -"

"Don't worry. I just improvised a little on dinner when Jarvis told me you'd fallen asleep."

"Improvised?" With Tony that might be the scariest word in history.

"Yes, assuming you can handle a temporary migration back to the sixties and seventies. I figured dinner could be a bit unconventional…" He leads her over to the - living area? - she'd only half noticed he's set up.

Pepper takes the seat he offers her on the couch, the skirt of her dress floating and falling softly around her as she settles in, wondering what he could possibly mean. However, when Tony lifts the domed lids on the table, she has to laugh in delight at the revealed impromptu fondue pots. There's the traditional pot of melted cheese sitting right next to a container of lightly steaming marinara sauce. There's cubes of cold roast chicken, steak, and boiled shrimp that probably came from a deli, and piles of bread. There's even an attempt to appear healthy; several smaller dishes of asparagus spears and triangles of artichoke, apple slices, cremini mushrooms, and even a bit of broccoli are all also there for the taking.

"Omelettes are overrated," Pepper says very seriously as Tony takes a seat next to her. "This is really fantastic, Tony." She has her suspicions about the tray he leaves covered, so reminds herself to leave room for dessert if she's right.

His grin is boyish. "Thanks, though the real truth is, I just like the chance to play with my food without being yelled at." He waggles his brow, then produces a small box of small metal skewers. "Though I have to admit a fondue pot cooks far, far better than the hotspot on a communications satellite dish or a Bunsen burner."

She snorts, "You've actually cooked on a satellite dish?"

"Hot dogs and s'mores. Back when Rhodes and I were at MIT."

Pepper accepts a skewer and quickly dips a mushroom into the marinara sauce. "How did that turn out for you? Was any of it edible?"

"Depends on your definition of edible," he replies easily. "Hunger, sauce, yadda yadda yadda."

The sauce is hot. Pepper breathes through her teeth as she tries to muffle her laughter. After she's swallowed her mouthful, she grins. "Does that mean you weren't eager to repeat the experiment?"

"I was a little worried about my...er...boys also getting fried. "

"Most cooks realize that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette," Pepper says mock seriously.

"Not MY eggs," he shoots back equally glib.

"I'm surprised you didn't have an automatic pizza delivery system in place for that sort of thing."

"They'd only deliver to the front door of the building. Why do you think I was inspired to build Dummy?" At the sound of his name, the robot comes rolling over, fire extinguisher in...claw, clearly anxious to put out the votive candles underneath the pots.

"Back off, Einstein," Tony warns, skewering his own piece of chicken carefully.

The robot shifts, almost fretfully, before beginning to retreat with an unhappy little chirrup.

"So..." Pepper ventures carefully as she watches it leave. "Are he and Butterfingers gonna be staying upstairs tonight?"

"Uhh..." Her question clearly surprises him. "I hadn't thought about it. I know you're probably eager to get this place shipshape again, but I'm not sure they're worth much as far as disaster restoration goes."

She blushes. "I was thinking more for, I don't know, privacy?"

"Privacy?" Tony blinks, obviously trying to work out her meaning. When he finally catches her drift, he can't help but laugh. Pepper is just so...adorable. Not that he'd be caught dead using that word, but that doesn't make it any less true. "The panels are smart glass, Pepper. Entirely opaque on this side. It's not as if they're going to be able to watch us."

"The walls may be opaque," Pepper murmurs as she twiddles with her fork. "But they're also ceiling-less. And I've seen their typical reaction to you when you start yelling. Besides," she murmurs. "Making out in front of Dummy would feel like making out in front of a three year old or something..."

"Try a two year old. One with a severe learning disorder," Tony scoffs. She's still blushing and he's drawn to the heat, shifting closer to her on the couch. "Seriously, Potts? It bugs you that much? 'Cause I mean, if the buckets of bolts are going to flip your modesty switch, I'll shut them down for the night. But still… really?"

Pepper can't help but notice that Tony sounds incredulous, and it just makes her blush more. "It's your fault," she mutters. "You're the one who made them so interactive. It'd just be...weird...if I knew they were down here, Tony."

Personally, Tony didn't see it. Though...Dummy did pick up the STRANGEST things sometimes…like that fire extinguisher he carried around like a security blanket. "Don't worry about," he finally says as he dunks a prawn into the marinara and offers it to her. "I usually put them offline to charge at night anyway. Keeps them from getting into too much trouble."

"Thank you." She leans forward, accepting the bit of food readily. "This place looks good," she offers, sweeping her gaze around the makeshift sitting area again, this time with a more critical eye. "Is this table new?"

"Nah...had Dummy pull it out of the sub basement. I think my mother found it in France."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she dragged me there almost every summer. Said the French were the only people in the world with taste in both clothing AND food. Well, except for the Italians of course. We used to visit the French Riviera most years during summer break."

"Is that how you became fluent in French? Yearly visits?" Pepper dips a cube of bread in the cheese and offers it to him in return.

"Yeah...six weeks every year of just Mom and I. It was great for the most part. We'd go to museums or shows or such during the day and I got to chat up the girls on the beach every evening."

"Your dad didn't come too?"

"He was too busy most of the time to join us except for maybe the last week. When he did show up it was GREAT though. He taught me chess – he used to give advice on my blue prints…"

A slight wrinkle forms in Pepper's brow. A week isn't a very long time, after all. However, she dips a slice of apple in the cheese and stays silent because she wants to hear more. Tony rarely talks about his early life with anyone.

Tony shrugs. "Not much more to say than that really. We lived in separate worlds so much of the time. I always thought once I graduated, left school, there'd be more time to get to know him. I mean he wanted me to tail him at the office for a couple of months after I left MIT...but I got a chance to travel with some school mates and Mom thought I needed a chance to 'spread my wings' a bit first before, as she put it, the family business swallowed me whole."

Tony's staring absently into the mid-distance, his thoughts far away now. Pepper hadn't meant to arouse the melancholy feeling that seemed to have gripped him, but memories had a funny way of taking on a life of their own.

To bring him back to the present, Pepper deliberately allows her next chunk of bread to fall into the pot with a softly murmured, "Oops..." though she does modulate her tone enough to ensure he'll hear it.

He looks down then back up, reaching over to kiss her gently in response. "Tradition, Ms. Potts," he informs her softly as he pulls away. "Guy to your left and all that..."

"I notice you oh-so-conveniently placed yourself on my left," Pepper murmurs, as if her actions hadn't been engineered to get just this response. "I think you may be attempting to take advantage of me, Mr. Stark."

"Me? NEVER..." He nudges the piece of broccoli she's just speared with a single fingertip. It clings in place stubbornly; he pouts. "Foiled by green stuff. Always knew vegetables were out to get me."

Pepper bumps her fork against the wall of the bowl as she withdraws her hand, efficiently causing the floret to drop back inside. "Oops." This time she meets Tony's eyes with a soft smile.

He smirks. "Okay, there YOU were obviously trying to put the moves on ME..."

"Are you sure?" Pepper leans in slowly. "Perhaps we should test that theory." Her lips press against his with agonizing softness before she pulls away. "I'm quickly losing interest in dinner. How about you?"

Tony considers a moment, before rapidly stuffing several more chunks of dipless meat into his mouth. "There's chocolate," he informs her, his words muddled by the speed with which he chews.

"You're going to upset your stomach if you eat too fast," Pepper tells him, most of her playfulness gone. "Take your time. I think I can be persuaded to linger over chocolate." And with that, she eagerly removes the dome from the last tray. She nearly moans at the sight of the small pot of melted chocolate, surrounded by chilled bowls of orange wedges, pineapple, cherries, and granny smiths. There's dried slices of mango, papaya, and banana as well as pretzel sticks and tiny, cream filled puff pastries.

Not a strawberry in sight, she notices wryly.

"We might have to bring this with us," she says without thinking as she spears a section of orange and plunges it into the chocolate.

The comment is enough to make Tony start coughing, loudly. Pepper gets up and comes back with two bottles of water one of which she opens and hands to him wordlessly before turning her attention back to her nearly guilt free chocolate.

Tony finally manages words. "You and chocolate in the same bed, Potts. I don't know, but I have a suspicion there wouldn't be room for three."

"I'm not that bad." This time Pepper dips a piece of mango into the chocolate, and nearly moans as she bites into it.

Tony just quirks and eyebrow and looks at her knowingly.

"Oh, just finish your own meal," Pepper grumbles under her breath. She really doesn't mind the teasing, but it's true that he does need to eat. If she lingers over something herself, then it's more likely that he'll eat until he's satisfied as well.

Tony nods and resumes eating eagerly, though this time it's clearly for efficiency of purpose and not just outright speed. "My appetite's really improving," he admits after a moment. "Probably because stuff isn't tasting so funny."

"I can imagine that might help." Pepper takes a sip of her own water before trying one of the pretzels; she wonders if Tony included them because he wanted to be teased.

To test him, Pepper dips one end of the pretzel into the chocolate before bringing it to her mouth. She catches Tony's eye briefly before starting suck the chocolate off.

Really, it's VERY good chocolate. It'd be a waste to eat it too quickly even if she weren't interesting in torturing Tony.

Tony groans softly, but keeps on working on his cheese covered broccoli. Once the bite is finished he clears his throat, "Make sure you leave SOME of that for ME."

"I don't know... It might be too rich for you. The chocolate I mean." She can tell by the glint in his eyes that neither of them are actually talking about the chocolate.

He raises a brow at that. "You're honestly questioning my...dessert...proclivities?"

"Well...you are recuperating." Pepper meets his eyes innocently as she bites down with a sharp crack. "Sweet and salty," she murmurs, just because she likes the flush crawling up Tony's neck from under his collar.

"We both know that recuperating's not the same as sick, Pep."

"Yes. But I also don't think you've ever had chocolate that's quite THIS good." Pepper leans in towards him just the tiniest bit, aware that his eyes follow her in, just darting down to her cleavage for a moment. "I wouldn't want to overwhelm you."

His eyes narrow slightly at her insinuation, but he plays along without protest. "Really? Here, let me taste..." He bends enough for his lips to brush across hers.

Pepper parts her lips eagerly, pulling him in to a slow, tenuous kiss, allowing him to sample both the chocolate on her lips and a taste of the metaphorical chocolate she's going to make damn sure he never takes for granted.

When they finally break the kiss they're both a little breathless.

"Dummy. Butterfingers. Upstairs. You're helping Jarvis with perimeter guard tonight…" The instruction is a near whisper but the robots go nonetheless

Once they enter the elevator Tony reaches forward to cover the fondue pots, then pushes himself up before extending a hand down to help her rise again.

"Come, Mon Chere…have a tour of Chez Stark."

Pepper shivers agreeably, though she does spare one last glance back for the chocolate. At least it'll reheat. Then his hand is folded comfortably around hers, and Pepper forgets about any other heat than the kind softly radiating between them.

She allows herself to be led toward the new partition, more than a little curious what she'll see. "And here, Mademoiselle, is the 'sitting room' - you'll note the change in flooring, as cement is unfit for our fair Belle's bare feet..."

Pepper's about to roll her eyes – as much at Tony's bad accent as at his exaggeration - when he pulls back the first partition door and she's greeted by an office space of sorts, complete with a small water fountain on the desk.

"You know, it makes sense now why you always settled down to work in the living room instead of claiming one of the rooms for an office. It must have been the sound of running water. I don't have any aquariums, but the living room had the waterfall." He gestures towards the desk. "It was the best I could do on short notice. PART of the best I could do," he acknowledges. "I figure it might help you keep your temper when people keep expecting you to have answers that you couldn't possibly be responsible for."

"Thank you." She's a little thrown by both the observation and resulting thoughtfulness. He only shrugs by gesturing her to the door for the larger of the rooms.

"And here, we have my lady's boudoir," Tony comments as he comes up behind Pepper who's stopped in the doorway. Across from her, playing along the smart glass panels, is an aquarium. Tony snaps and points, and the scene projects itself off the wall and into the room, holographic fish swirling and darting all around her as she steps further into the space. Once again Pepper finds she's unable to speak, but she certainly knows whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

"Tony, this is..." A turtle swims overhead. "AMAZING..."

The smile that draws from Tony is every bit as stunning. "I'm glad you approve." His arms wrap around her from behind for a moment as his head turns and his lips press against her right cheek. "Just beware Jarvis helped, and with his sense of humor, some of these may randomly speak..."

Pepper shakes her head, still a little too in awe to speak. Instead she turns and wraps her arms around Tony' shoulders and just hugs him. He holds her readily, posture loose and content.

Jarvis, whether or not he programmed any surprises into the aquarium program, seems to take a bit of pity on them, Tony thinks afterward. That's the only explanation he can come up with for why a soft rendition of "Beyond the Sea" starts playing.

They both start swaying, dancing mostly on instinct. Pepper tucks her face into Tony's neck and sighs deeply before taking another long breath in. He smells clean, like expensive soap and shampoo, but not like he'd put on any cologne. It's a simple version of Tony, not the pressed and polished Tony. It's her version of Tony, not that she doesn't like pressed and polished, but that's the one she has to share with the world.

Tony groans a little in reply at the gesture, hands tightening minusculely as he shifts to pull her a little closer. Her head pulls back and her hands wind up instinctively in his hair as she lifts her chin and kisses him again.

It's Tony's turn to sigh into the caress – both that of her hands and her lips. Pepper tastes like oranges and chocolate and something he can't name. She's warm and flexible in his arms as they slowly move around the room.

Both their eyes are more than half closed, which means they both nearly stumble when they eventually bump into the foot of the bed.

"Oooomph. Sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Well, okay, I did mean to kiss you but I didn't mean to almost..." Tony's chuckle cuts Pepper off before she can descend into wholesale nervous babbling again. Before she can as much as blink he's pivoted them both easily until they land with a mutual thump atop the comforter.

Tony strokes a hand along the line of Pepper's halter top, following it from neck to bodice. She sucks in a shaky breath, but doesn't look away. "This dress looks great on you, Pep." Tony means it, and so refrains from mentioning that it might look better on the floor. This has all been about not rushing her, and he's really not in a hurry to get her naked…yet. He wants to take the time to just look at her, especially in the dancing lights of the fish still flowing around them and the blue-white glow of his reactor.

The way her eyes crinkle at the corner though, is pretty good indication that she probably KNOWS what he's NOT saying. Her hand pushes on his shoulder gently, pushing him onto his back. "You don't look too bad yourself," she says, swinging a leg over his hips to straddle him. Her full skirt flares out with the motion, then settles over her legs lightly, pooling on his stomach as her fingers stroke softly over his burgundy shirt.

"I try. In fact most days I'm VERY trying." She rolls her eyes at the pun before leaning down again kiss in retaliation. He continues to let her lead, though he makes no effort to hide the growing bulge beneath his pants fly when her hips start rocking instinctively against his.

Pepper leans down, bracing her hands on the mattress to either side of Tony's head. "Well, at least I'm going to have a much more effective way of making you pay for it," she murmurs into his ear.

"Promises, promises," he whispers back hoarsely.

Pepper smiles as she starts kissing the exposed line of his neck. His skin is warm, just a little salty, and dry against her lips. Just another little reminder that his health has been on the fritz. 'Tony, Tony, Tony,' she thinks to herself with a mental shake of her head. And she can't even point out that this is what happens when he tries to go one week without her because he's been sick longer than a week, and it's not as if she's done much better.

Besides, its time to start appreciating the cure instead of obsessing over the disease. Most of her attention for the past couple of days has been on the bruises painted over his ribs and back, her concern outweighing her curiosity over the new reactor.

She nibbles the outer curve of his earlobe as her hands find the waist of his pants and work his shirt free. "I want to see it," she murmurs, meaning the new reactor but not really specifying.

He chuckles, the sound shaking both of them slightly, as his hands make their way to the hem of her dress, playing with the skin just beneath. "I should probably tell you not on the first date...but as we both know, I'm easy."

"I meant your reactor, genius," she replies, though her tone is affectionate. "You changed the housing on the suit." She knows she doesn't pay a lot of attention to Tony's...extra curricular activities, mainly to reduce her own stress levels, but the triangular shape on his chest had instantly snagged her attention. In a good way. It looked less like he had a target painted over his heart.

"Ahhhh. Help yourself, then," he drawls, laying back and hooking his hands behind his head easily.

Pepper kisses him quickly, a bit of reassurance that he has most of her attention still, then returns to her mission. With his shirt out of her way, she can trace the rim of the implant with her fingertips. She knows he's gone through a few generations of reactor in the last six months, but he'd never made her stick her hand inside of him again...something she appreciates.

The room is dark and the reactor is bright, but Pepper thinks she can make out of a few details if she squints. "Why a triangle instead of a circle?" she asks softly, glancing up at his face with eyes that are dazzled.

"Art imitating life? Starkonium is roughly triangular in its structure...plus as it turns out in a lot of cultures, a triangle is the sign for the masculine and a circle the feminine."

She snorts. "I like it." The reactor itself was still a circle - she doubted even Tony would carve himself a new space to fit a triangle - but she liked the new representation on the suit.

He grins. Drops his hand as if to scratch his chest for a moment before aborting the move. "It still feels normal sort of...I mean I get phantom sensation sometimes."

"Pain?" She winces.

"Uh uh. My sternum just used to get really ITCHY."

Pepper's lips tighten, but she nods and doesn't say anything scolding, for which he's grateful. He'd like to rest in her approval for at least a few seconds.

Then she shifts her body down and over so that she's lying along his side, and he kind of misses the heat of her body. Or he does until she turns his head with one gentle hand and starts kissing him again, her fingers sliding through his hair over and over, almost stroking or petting him.

His head drops to one side as he lets out a low sound.

Pepper raises an eyebrow in bemusement. "Are you actually PURRING?"

"All geniuses purr, I'm surprised you didn't know that. Don't stop." It's been so long since he's felt any kind of real pleasure, not to mention the lazy warmth currently flooding his body. He can't tell if it's that absence that makes her touch feel so damn good or if it's just because she's Pepper, and he honestly doesn't care enough to work it out at the moment. That it IS is more than enough to satisfy him. "Wait. Take off your dress and THEN don't stop." That's better. He does have a reputation to uphold after all.

She giggles before rolling over. "Smooth, Stark. Give me a hand with the zipper?"

"I'll give you a whole round of applause once it's down." He wastes no time finding the tiny zipper and slo-o-o-wly pulling it down before his hands slide under the loosened fabric and along bare skin. She's warm and soft and smooth and creamy white in the dancing blue light of the holographic aquarium.

Tony can't help himself; he curls into her back, face pressing into the nape of her neck as he breathes her in and starts pushing fabric out of his way so he can touch more of that addictively soft skin. He leaves the lingerie where it is because after her fuss about moods he wants to see what she's picked out for him, for them, for tonight, but everything else must go.

Pepper, thankfully, reacts to the move with nothing more than a hungry little shiver. She raises up just enough to help him slither the fabric past her hips and then down over her legs, finally lying in a haphazard pile near her feet.

Her toes are curled slightly, the nails a softly shining pink. Something about that makes him grin as he shifts into a sitting position to reach, almost instinctively, to cradle one of her ankles. Her foot jerks a little - ticklish perhaps?- as he runs a light touch up the instep, but she groans in what can only be approval as his thumb presses hard into the sole.

He looks up – perhaps to tease her about the possibility of a foot fetish, it's hard to say – but his eyes catch on the pretty blue bows decorating her white panties, and DAMN that works for him. Her bra, when he manages to raise his eyes, has the same decorations right where the straps attach to suspiciously scant cups.

He unconsciously wets his lips as he slides his fingers along her instep.

She whimpers openly.

"Something wrong?"

"Just you're unfairly good at that."

"I've always been good with my hands," he murmurs, completely distracted. He wonders if those bows will come undone if he tugs on them or if they're purely decorative. He wonders if she wears things like this on a regular basis or if this is special date night gear.

If it's the former it's going to play havoc with his sanity.

His hands caress her ankles softly before traveling again past her calves then up the inside of her legs. She shivers at the contact, which he keeps feather light till he reaches the space where thighs meet groin muscle where his thumbs dig in deeply. He watches her pelvic muscles tense, hips lifting off the bed just slightly.

She smells like...like Pepper times ten. There's no better description for it really,

"I thought the plan was for me to get out of my dress and then get back to petting you."

"Plans change," Tony replies, taking note of the slight tremble in Pepper's voice. And honestly, it's only luck that it's not in his as well. He does want to go back to lying in Pepper's arms while she strokes him, but he also wants to TOUCH.

"Besides you're DISTRACTING," he chides her softly. "I mean just LOOK at you..." He brushes his fingers across the fabric over her core - hears the whimper she tries to bite back.

He wants to hear that sound again, needs to hear it fully and not muffled. Without a second thought he slides his palm between her thighs so that he's cupping her fully and is rewarded when that little whimper falls out of an open mouth.

Pepper's lips purse – once she finds her self control - then she manages a order. "PATIENCE, Tony."

"Can't. Nonbeliever. It'd be total blasphemy." But he's supposed to be trying for her. So he compromises. He doesn't push his hand under the satin of her panties but he does start pressing kisses into the soft plane of muscle and skin that stretches between her hips.

She murmurs in contentment, at least for a moment. Then she seems to change her mind, sitting up part way. "Shelve the Lothario act for now and lose the trousers, Tony."

Tony shakes his head against her belly, not because he doesn't WANT to get a move on with the getting naked part of the evening, but because when weighed against losing contact with her skin, it's a six of one/half dozen of the other kind of prospect. And then when he DOES manage to peel himself away long enough to climb out of his trousers, Pepper rewards him by scooting out of range so he can't immediately collapse back on top of her.

He scowls a little, "Hey, no going shy on me..."

A slow smile spreads across Pepper's face. She stretches languorously, legs extending, chest arching, arms reaching before her body falls into a more relaxed position and she pats the mattress beside her as she turns to lay on one hip.

"Just encouraging you to slow down and check out the 'scenery..."

"Life time devoted tourist," he murmurs, hand stroking up her flank possessively.

"Promises, promises." She whispers his earlier words back to him without meeting his eyes, and her hands reach out for him before he can ask what she means or take offense - because he's pretty sure he already knows. But her hands are gentle and caress muscles far more used to absorbing massive amounts of kinetic energy, and his brain points out distantly that if she's here then she's willing to take more of a risk than her words indicate.

And so he does what has come naturally so many time before: choosing once again to simply let her lead. He slides of the bed with effortless grace and reaches for the clasp on his pants.

Pepper watches silently, her eyes sliding from his hands to his face to his belt as the pants come off. One eyebrow raises ever so slightly when the boxer briefs are revealed, but she doesn't say anything. Even when his hands hover, indecisively, over the waist band she merely shrugs, leaving the decision to bare all to him. She, after all, is still partially dressed - though Tony's not sure how much longer he can put up with the way those bows are taunting him.

It makes the decision to step out of the last bit of fabric easy.

He steadies himself with one hand on the end of the mattress as he undresses, aware his general balance may still be a little iffy. Funny but he's never been so self conscious about not looking like an idiot before.

He's pictured this coming together before, of course, multiple times. But he'd always assumed he'd be coming to it as the proverbial sculpted sex god, not with this still healing body. He covers that nervousness with a smile as he lets the boxers drop to the floor beside the bed.

Pepper's eyes linger on his bruises, but not overwhelmingly. She also makes a THOUROUGH inventory of the rest of him, and he doesn't miss the way she starts tracing quick little - dare he say impatient? - circles on her hip as she glances over the erection she's brought to life.

Finally her hand reaches out, one finger beckoning him meaningfully.

He comes back quickly - really, those bows need further investigation - scooting close enough to feel the heat coming off her but not so close that they're pressed up against each other. As eager as he is to touch, he also wants to find out what Pepper's going to do.

"I like the bows," he informs her. "They suit you."

"They seemed suitably festive," Pepper replies with an utterly feminine smile. She reaches up and toys with one of the bows on her bra. "Functional too."

Tony's hands twitch; as tempted as he's been to touch, she's just thrown him into hyperdrive. Once he manages to pull his eyes away from her hands – and her breasts, they're just too close to kid around now – he glances up to her face. Pepper Potts is SMIRKING. Not only that but there's definitely a cunning twinkle in her eye.

"You're seducing me," he accuses, frankly just a little bit shocked. After all, their relationship to this point has been defined by the way he tempted her into inappropriate behavior…and the way she resisted.

"Is it working?"

"Ohhhhhh yeah," he reassures her fervently.

Pepper slowly pulls one end of the ribbon free. She keeps pulling and pulling, and Tony keeps watching until the ribbon has come free entirely and she's dangling it in front of his face.

She raises one eyebrow as if to ask, "Well?"

He reaches down to remove its twin readily, delighting in the way the warm skin beneath his hands shivers just the slightest bit at the touch.

Pepper smiles, not a coy smile but a genuine one, and catches hold of the other side of the ribbon. She tugs gently, pulling his hand towards her, arching her chest towards him once she's gotten him within range.

It takes him less than ten seconds to find and free her bra clasp. He supposes he should take more time to appreciate it's intent to tease both of them, but the truth is he can all but feel the hastening end of his patience.

Pepper's sigh is shaky and ends on a soft moan as his hands find and cover her breasts. Her fingers press into his shoulders and her legs - covered in ridiculously silky skin - shift against his as she arches into him again.

One thumb shifts enough to gently circle around one areole, eyes on her face to watch her reaction.

"That's nice." Somehow she turns the words into both an encouragement and a challenge.

His eyes narrow a little before his fingers tweak the nipples a little more firmly.

"Ooohh...better than nice." Pepper's eyes fall shut and she takes a deep breath between parted lips.

"Good to know." His nails gently rake down her sides and across her belly.

She acts without warning, one hand trapping his against her belly the other hooking behind his neck to pull him close enough to kiss. There's nothing tentative about her mouth, her lips are soft and eager.

He lets her lead, content to simply enjoy her passion. They end up with her once again straddling his hips eventually. The teasing rock of flesh against flesh is almost as unbearable as it is sweet.

He can't help the way he murmurs her name, can't help the way his body strains towards hers, certainly can't help the way his hands zero in on the hot, slick juncture of her body where he so desperately wants to be.

He thinks he might actually moan. Knows for sure that if he did, then her moan covers it completely.

When her hands encircle his warmth he surprises both of them by actually GROWLING deeply. Pepper lets out a little giggle, but doesn't lighten her grip.

"Pepper, oh god, careful -" He's been hungry for her all day and honestly his self-control right now isn't what it's renowned to be. And he'd really like this to be more than a heavy petting session.

"Don't want to," she replies, hand moving a little more rapidly.

"I'm gonna..." He half protests half whines.

"Go ahead. After you can make it up to me." He can hear the smirk in her voice as she leans down.

He'd argue, if he had the mental resources left. In fact he gives up on just about everything but breathing. This particular version of Pepper strong-arming him into her way of thinking is scarily effective.

The thought makes him groan; that's really sexy.

Orgasm comes quickly - embarrassingly so. It's not the longest or the strongest he's ever had, but he's astounded by the emotional rush of contentment that follows - the warmth of her body and the smell of the crook of her neck where he buries his face.

He can hear Pepper chuckling softly, but can't find enough energy to care. As long as she keeps holding him close she can do whatever the hell she wants.

"I love you." The words are absolutely sincere, even if they do come out a little abruptly.

"I'm sure," she replies, and there's still laughter in her voice. Clearly she's attributing his words to his orgasm and nothing more.

He manages to pull back enough to lift her chin and kiss her fiercely nonetheless. She purrs and relaxes her body into his, her fingers starting to stroke through his hair once more almost absentmindedly.

"You said something about my returning the favor?" he says when he finally pulls back, grinning gently.

"When you're up for it." Pepper shifts slightly, so that she's no longer resting on top of him but is instead pressed against his side. "Though that reminds me, I did want to warn you about something."

He raises an eyebrow at that questioningly.

"Should you wake up before I do - which is probably unlikely - I'll need you to keep it down. You can go work on the cars, or the suit, but I'll strangle you if your deafening rock music is what wakes me up tomorrow." He can feel the smile on her face when she presses a kiss against his shoulder.

He chuckles. "Guess tomorrow I'll have to update Chez Stark with better soundproofing. Wait..." The…personal history…that may have spurred her offer occurs to him abruptly. "Are you giving me permission to hide from you?" He doesn't know if he's insulted or amazed by her foresight. Not that he has any intention of hiding, but incase the morning brings surprises…

Pepper snorts. "Hide? You could try. It wouldn't get you far. I just...wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be offended if you wake up and need to move. You get antsy after breaking your, um, dry spells."

"Antsy?" He all but squawks in amusement at the descriptor. "What am I...like three?"

"Thirty eight going on seventeen, thank God," she informs him faux sweetly.

He pounces her quite effectively in retaliation.

"Mmmm..." Pepper stretches under him slowly, hands raking through his hair with enough pressure from her nails to make him shiver.

"Noooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww," he says, rising up on his arms above her, "Where were we?"

"Reciprocation?" The way her foot is rubbing up and down along his calf asks for something a hell of a lot dirtier than mere reciprocation. Not that he has any interest in arguing.

"Yeah that works for me."


End file.
